Honda Drops Team Liquid Partnership

Honda has officially terminated its six-year partnership with the international esports organization Team Liquid. This decision follows a controversial social media post made on May 13, 2025, by Lucas Dias, a professional player for Team Liquid’s Rainbow Six Siege roster. Following a match against the Japan-based organization CAG Osaka, Dias posted a message on X accompanied by a GIF of a nuclear mushroom cloud. The imagery was widely perceived as insensitive due to its historical association with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In response to the incident, Team Liquid issued a formal apology, stating that while they believe the player acted without malicious intent, the post was a significant error in judgment. The organization subsequently fined Dias four months of pay and announced mandatory sensitivity and professional conduct re-training for all players and staff across every game title. Despite these internal disciplinary measures and the fact that the opposing team, CAG Osaka, reportedly accepted the apology as a mistake rather than a deliberate insult, Honda chose to end the business relationship.

The partnership, which began in 2019, was a prominent fixture in Team Liquid’s branding, including naming rights for its League of Legends teams and extensive collaborative content. While the financial impact of the lost sponsorship remains undisclosed, Team Liquid maintains several other high-profile partnerships with brands such as Monster Energy, Alienware, and Coinbase. This event highlights the ongoing sensitivity of corporate sponsors regarding the public conduct of esports professionals and the potential for individual social media actions to result in the immediate dissolution of long-term commercial agreements.