🎮 Tfue sued FaZe Clan, says it took up to 80% of his brand pay

Turner "Tfue" Tenney was one of the world's top esports players when he decided his management deal deserved its own headline. On May 20, 2019, Tenney filed a lawsuit against FaZe Clan, the esports and content organization he'd joined, laying out terms he says left him with a fraction of his own earnings.

"Faze Clan also continuously pressured and encouraged Tenney and others to undertake dangerous stunts while performing in videos."

Bryan Freedman, Tenney's lawyer, in the petition to the California Labor Commissioner, via The Hollywood Reporter

The money claim in the lawsuit was blunter: Tenney said he kept 20% of revenue from branded videos posted to Twitch, YouTube or social media, and half of whatever he made from touring and appearances. Do the subtraction on the branded-video split and FaZe's side comes out with the larger slice - which is the whole basis of the suit.

FaZe Clan's answer

FaZe Clan didn't wait for a judge; it went to Twitter. The company said it never touched Tenney's tournament winnings, Twitch revenue or YouTube money. It acknowledged a clause letting it take 80% of a brand deal it introduced but said it had "NEVER collected on that clause from Tfue or any other FaZe Clan member," and put a number on what it did take.

"We have collected a total of $60,000 from 300k in brand deals (20%). That's it"

FaZe Clan owner Ricky Banks, on Twitter, via TechCrunch

FaZe also said it had put a better deal on the table more than once - one that routed all of the branded-video money to Tenney - and that he never took it.

"they've offered him several versions of an improved contract with 'a seven figure bonus' or FaZe Clan taking 'zero percent,' but they've been rejected"

The Hollywood Reporter, summarizing FaZe Clan's account

FaZe Clan sues back

FaZe Clan didn't stop at a tweet. On August 1, 2019, the organization filed its own lawsuit against Tenney in New York, claiming he'd violated his contract by disparaging the company and by trying to build a rival esports organization while still under it, according to The Verge. The countersuit says Tenney earned more than $20 million since joining FaZe in April 2018 and "shared almost none of this income with Faze Clan," and that he leaked confidential contract terms to the press.

Tenney's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, fired back in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, calling the New York filing "a ridiculous and obvious attempt to avoid the consequences of its clear violations of California law" and saying FaZe was now "suing Turner under its illegal contract for the monies it publicly represented that it was not collecting."