sheik · @sheik____
3rd Jul 2020 from TwitLonger
Regarding A Rookie's Response
This will be my final twitlonger on the issue, so I will try to address as much as possible involving issues around Albert. After this statement, it would divulge more into a "he-said-she-said" type of situation, and at that point there is not much I can prove or disprove. I will go ahead and preface that I will be speaking up on both my personal experiences, as well as other experiences involving Albert (A Rookie). Because both Skittles and I were addressed in the same twitlonger, I will be adding a small part of my own stance with that issue, as this is not a new issue but an ongoing one.
My story of Albert was to be used as an example of how there has been inaction in past cases and how it affects people personally. Taking my leave because I felt uncomfortable in the smash community due to unwanted advances is a very, very tame story compared to many others out there. I do not deny that.
And before I move on to Albert's response, I need to make something else very clear. I did not know my story was on the reddit megathread. Honestly, I did not know my post would gain this much traction in the first place, and it has been extremely overwhelming for me. The support and love I have received is something I am not used to at all, and while I sincerely appreciate it, I am more relieved to see there being action. However, I do not believe my story is as important as many others who are coming out. What Albert did to me included unwanted advances, and sending me that explicit picture. Compared to many other stories out there, this is SO tame and I do not want to take away the spotlight from any other victim.
Moving on - everything I posted was the truth. He does not deny any of what I posted. In fact, he seems to confirm most of what I posted - but there is one thing that needs to be made abundantly clear. I did not send him the bikini picture privately, I sent it to my snapchat story. This can be confirmed by the person who knew what was going on at the time - Patrick. I personally remember posting it to my story, and Patrick personally remembers seeing it. It was a specific point in time - I was already feeling uncomfortable with Albert, and I had already relayed this to both Patrick and Rae. I did not tell him which swimsuit it was, but he was able to remember exactly which one.
I had the confidence to post a picture on my snapchat story. However, I did not send it only to him, and that is a flat out lie. Even if he thought I did, it would not justify sending a picture I did not give consent to. As far as the ";)" went, I honestly do not remember this happening at all. If I posted a ";)" anywhere, I would've assumed it to be with the picture, which was on my story. And if I did post the ";)" to my story, all I can assume is that it was because I was feeling confident at the time. Albert initiated a conversation with me after I had posted the picture to my story - he wasn't the only one to comment on the picture that day. He *was* the only one to send me an explicit picture, and that was the problem.
Here is a conversation between my boyfriend and Patrick to back this up:
https://imgur.com/a/TaFuX5J
https://imgur.com/a/OD1HEO3
Here is Patrick's statement to me personally:
https://imgur.com/a/nGsBGnh
Albert mentions me "teasing him sexually", but if posting a bikini picture to my story is being a sexual tease, then by that logic, I must have teased all of the 80+ people I had on Snapchat at the time and he was still the only one who sent an explicit picture. I was already uncomfortable talking to him anymore besides the bare minimum required to run tournaments at this point, I would not have "encouraged" him in a sexual manner.
"She did say she felt validated due to me being 'kind of a big deal', so her response has intent for something." I made it pretty clear I looked up to Albert in my statement, not that I was interested in him romantically. I do not understand why him being "kind of a big deal" has intent.
When mentioning my age, I did so to point out the six year age gap. This was not to say "Albert is grooming minors", it was to say "our age gap was significant enough for me to be put off by him." We started talking before I had turned 19, when we were talking about my birthday is when I was about to turn 19. I was a freshman in college, and he was halfway through his twenties.
As for the military response, there's not much I can say or prove. I remember having some kind of conversation through text about it. He did not imply that he wanted me to move away with him in any way, but I did not understand why he would ask me if I was okay with him being stationed somewhere. I did not have romantic feelings towards him, so for him to ask me that made me realize that he might've wanted to pursue me in that fashion, and I wasn't okay with that. This is when I first approached Patrick and Raeshun about how this was making me feel. At this point in time, this was before the bikini picture, and Albert had not done anything to warrant a bannable offense, so all I had talked to them about was how the situation made me uncomfortable.
He said something about me coming back a few months later with a "new boyfriend". I don't know how that is significant, but yes I'm sure I showed up a few more times to tournaments. My boyfriend was and is still into the smash scene - he was in the scene way before I was. I wanted to support him, and at that point he barely went to tournaments anymore because of personal things in his life. Being able to see him have fun at a tournament was rewarding in its own right, and he very much deserved to have fun.
Another thing I would like to address is the fact that I do, indeed, have a bias towards Raeshun and Patrick. Unlike Albert, Raeshun and Patrick came to me and apologized profusely for their inaction. Albert, in his statement, does not at any point in time offer a semblance of an apology. I believe this is worth pointing out as he seems to want to convince people of his "change", but cannot personally apologize.
But yes, he could have changed, regardless of apologizing or not. The reasoning that I do not personally believe he has changed is his absolute lack of apologies towards anyone he has somewhat wronged. This is an ongoing pattern that I feel needs to be addressed. For example, there is a tweet of his that says he does not respect trans lifestyles because of his faith. If the reasoning for 'not respecting trans lifestyles is his faith', then one could argue sending unsolicited explicit pictures is also against his faith.
Now back to how he hasn't actually apologized. He "apologized" for his transphobic comments. In his official "apology", though, he actually never offered an apology, and continued to say how he loves everyone, that he's not the same person, that he's changed, etc. However, it is important to note that self-proclaimed change is not the same as actual change. Even in his twitlonger, he addresses that he "is not a bigot, transphobe", etc. He denies allegations, but does not apologize for his actions that resulted in those allegations. In the twitlonger as well, there is still no semblance of an apology, towards me or transgender people, despite confirming that he has had posted things in bad taste, and also confirming what I had said was true. Deflecting is not the same as apologizing, and as a 28 year old he should know that by now.
As this is a sensitive issue that did not directly involve me, I will refrain from speaking more on that topic. Please listen to the transgender people who have spoken up on this topic, as they will have more insight into it than I will. They are part of the community too, and should be heard. However, I add it in as it is important for the Smash Community to address this issue, and it shows the pattern in how Albert "apologizes".
My final thoughts is that in a community that offers many different people - age, race, gender - everyone should be protected. Everyone should be welcomed. My point in posting my personal story was to reiterate that, as a woman, I ended up feeling forced out at the time. No one should feel forced out because of a player. No one should have to tolerate being harassed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized to be in a community this large. This is a problem on a large scale, is what I realized, and I believe everyone needs to process that. It's not just a Smash community problem. It's a youtuber problem. It's an entertainment industry problem. And it's the result of a worldwide problem.
But it is up to the Smash Community to come together in order to fix the problem within their community while holding the assailants accountable. Thank you for reading.