When other parts of the entertainment industry had their #MeToo moment, esports was barely brushed by it and the industry as a whole was able to skirt the conversation. That is not possible anymore.
Women have come forward to raise allegations against some of the most lauded Dota 2 personalities, a pedophilia-accusation has rocked the World's most successful World of Warcraft organization and importantly to us, several stories about CS:GO talent.
Below are the stories outlined, and again we would urge you to read the parts in full.
On June 21st, Kelly Jean, former girlfriend of CS:GO commentator HenryG, came forward in a Twitlonger to accuse him of having sex with her, without her consent, while she was intoxicated.
She went on to provide several other allegations, including verbally and emotional abuse, including name calling, yelling, intentionally embarrassing her in public, and gaslighting her when she was trying to stand up to him.
HenryG both denied the allegations and provided more context to the situation of their relationship. His response can be read here. Following that, Kelly Jean put out another statement that you can read here.
On June 25th, @passioniteTV, released a Twitlonger, giving her account of how the CS:GO commentator, launders, held her down and raped her, against her explicitly not wanting to have sex. The account she gives goes into the specific situation and how launders didn't respond to her repeatedly saying no, and that he didn't show remorse afterwards.
launders denied the incident ever happened in his response, claiming that "he can't refute events that never happened". His response can be found here.
On June 27th, the last case to reach the forefront of the CS:GO community is not one of sexual nature, but lies more in the realm of power- and physical abuse. It was fronted by James Banks, and contains several allegations within one, all made against Paul "Redeye" Chaloner, esports host and founder of talent management agency CodeRed.
The allegations cannot be summed up so easily in a paragraph, but Banks portrays Redeye as someone who will easily abuse subordinates, both mentally and physically in at least one instance, and block other talent from getting new jobs, including threatening several people on their livelihood. He also summarizes that CodeRed has blackmailed him to not put the allegations out, by threatening to release conversations and statements from his past (he does not completely own up to which statements these are in his allegations).
Redeye has responded here, denying any physical confrontation, but acknowledging that his style and bluntness can potentially put some people off. Luke Cotton, COO of CodeRed, has responded here.
In a second set of allegations, Banks outs Redeye as being charged with domestic and child abuse. He was however acquitted of the charges.
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