Multiple Smash personalities accused of sexual assault and misconduct
A number of players and popular personalities in the Super Smash Bros. community have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct and assault pouring out in recent days.
While esports as a whole seems to be experiencing its own ‘MeToo’ movement, with a number of high-profile names coming forward to detail stories of times they have been assaulted or wronged by other members of the industry, some strong allegations have surfaced from the Smash scene.
Between July 1-2, multiple stories came out from the Smash community as some of the world’s best players and top personalities revealed accusations of sexual misconduct.
A number of stories have surfaced from within the Smash community.This includes two young boys recounting times they were allegedly abused or sexualized by fellow competitors, as well as prolific EVO co-founder Joey ‘MrWizard’ Cuellar being placed on administrative leave from the company due to allegations made against him.
Puppeh accuses Cinnpie
On July 1, Troy ‘Puppeh’ Wells released a Twitlonger, alleging that throughout the summer of 2016 – when he was 14 years old – he had a sexual relationship with Cinnamon ‘Cinnpie’ Dunson, who was 24 at the time.
Puppeh claims to have had a sexual relationship with Cinnpie when he was 14 and she was 24.Puppeh accuses Cinnpie of frequently gaslighting him and forcing him to delete messages between them. To this day, he says he still struggles to understand and process his emotions regarding the situation.
Cinnpie is yet to comment on or respond to the claims.
CaptainZack accuses Nairo
On July 2, Zack ‘CaptainZack’ Lauth accused top-tier Smash pro, Nairoby ‘Nairo’ Quezada, of having a sexual relationship with him when he was just 15 years old, and the accused was 20.
Smash pro CaptainZack has made a statement against fellow competitor Nairo.In the TwitLonger Zack posted, he explains that he doesn’t want Nairo to be canceled but simply to speak his truth, with multiple screenshots of him detailing his experiences with Nairo to another friend.
He ends the TwitLonger again reiterating that he doesn’t want Quezada to suffer over the allegations, but that “the stress of having this experience weighing on him” was too much to bear.
CaptainZack alleges that Nairo paid him to keep quiet.CaptainZack’s story was bolstered by the support of fellow pro Gavin ‘Tweek’ Dempsey, who said that he was aware of the relationship between the two but kept it quiet out of respect for Zack, who Tweek says begged him to keep the secret.
Nairo deactivated his Twitter account shortly after allegations surfaced, but returned to the platform to apologize to Zack and revealing that he will be taking time away for self-reflection.
— Nairo (@NairoMK) July 2, 2020
NRG also released a statement, announcing that they would be severing all ties with Nairo.
— NRG (@NRGgg) July 2, 2020
EVO co-founder MrWizard placed on leave
In the early hours of Thursday, July 2, popular fighting games tournament EVO also released a statement, saying that they are aware of accusations made against Joey Cuellar, and that they have placed him on administrative leave while they attempt to get to the bottom of the situation.
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A message to all players, attendees, and fans pic.twitter.com/TJfNxVPiXC
— EVO (@EVO) July 2, 2020
This follows a number of accusations, including one made by PyronIkari, in which he accuses Cuellar of making “bets” in order to get predominantly “young boys” to remove their clothes or, as in PyronIkari’s case, show him his genitals.
KTDominate accuses D1
Popular Smash Bros commentator and content creator D’Ron ‘D1’ Maingrette has released a public statement via Twitter after being accused of rape by community member KTDominate. She alleged that he’d taken her to his hotel room at a party during Smash the Record 2016, after which he assaulted her. KTDominate claimed she was extremely drunk during the encounter and had not consented to sex.
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D1 later published an apology to KTDominate, alleging that he had “zero recollection” of the events that transpired that night. He ended his letter by asking readers to “please understand, this is not who I am.”
Anti responds after anonymous accusation
Smash pro Jason ‘Anti’ Bates has also come out with a statement of his own after being accused of sexual assault by an anonymous source, which was shared to Twitter by another user. In the allegations, the victim stated that they had matched with Anti on Twitter in 2016 and had told him they were underaged, with Anti purportedly asking them to lie about the subject. The victim claimed to have had sexual relations with Anti, D1, The Moon and Keitaro before turning 18.
She wanted to remain anonymous pic.twitter.com/rrs8Np9WtD
— shiva (@shxvah) July 2, 2020
Anti has since refuted the victim’s claims and argued that they had lied about their age, claiming they’d said they were 18 and were accusing him as a means “to get rid of people you simply have a vendetta against.”
T1 has since dropped Anti from their roster, with the player alluding to future legal action against his accuser.
This is an ongoing story and, if those accused come out with statements, it will be updated accordingly.
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