Why I Left, Why I Returned, My Side, and My Thoughts Going Forward


All,

Over the last several days, I’ve seriously debated posting another Twitlonger about my situation. Originally, my plan was just to let things lie, and maintain the fact that much of what was said about me simply was not true, and that my actions, while understandably morally disagreeable, did not rise to the level of assault, grooming, abuse, rape, or any other crime. As I said before, of I could do it over again, I would never have sent some of the messages I sent. But of course, we can’t take back the things we’ve done, and all we can do is learn and move forward.

A number of people, including close friends of mine, have reached out to support me over the last few days. This has meant the world to me that many of my most cherished friends have not abandoned me, and I’m grateful to have people who were patient and determined to hear my side. Several of them have asked similar questions of me, with several people strongly suggesting that I make a public statement. While I was at first very reluctant to do so, I will be speaking on this matter today.

This statement is meant to explain my actions, particularly why I left, if there is evidence to counter what people have said, why I returned and what my plans are going forward. My hope is that this will help people to not feel left in the dark, and to make it clear that the one-sided story that people have heard is not the full story.

--Why Did You Leave?

Many people who have reached out initially asked why I deactivated my Twitter. Many suggested that doing so implies guilt or a confession.

My deactivation was in no way a confession. Unlike almost every other accused person (I believe Cinnpie is the only exception), I was doxxed almost immediately after allegations about me surfaced. In some instances, even before I had an opportunity to write a response. Soon after this happened, I started to receive several anonymous phone calls with death threats against me and my family, similar calls at work, and people trying to get me fired from my job. At that point, I deactivated all of my social media, not just Twitter, to protect myself. If you’ve never been in this kind of situation before, I don’t think you can begin to understand the fear I felt in that moment. I believed the best answer was to just remove myself from the situation entirely while the mob of Twitter users continued with their scorched Earth methods.

Similarly, I left because I felt like I was shouting into the void when I wrote my response. Several people made fun of me, posted memes or bot replies to my Twitlonger, called it a “confession” of grooming or pedophilia (which it was not), etc. Twitter is not a court of law, and everyone here is apparently guilty until proven innocent. It is clearly not the place to expect one to have a fair opportunity to defend themselves. So, on balance, I believed it was fine to just lose all of the followers I had who would simply take one side as truth and never ask to hear the same level of detail from the other side. To this day, I’m not “pretending like nothing happened.” I have been speaking with people privately, where they are able to ask questions of me and I am able to explain my side, with evidence to support it. Many of these people have changed their minds completely after what they have seen or heard, and have continued to be friends with me.

--Why Did you Return?

My original plan was to not return to Twitter. This was largely due to the fact that many people had already made up their minds that I am some evil person and continued to perpetuate the narrative that I am a predator. Rather than fight to remain a part of a community with people who threatened to kill me and wanted me to burn over what they believed I had done, my intention was to just continue to play Smash without a Twitter and still be friends with those close to me.

However, after several days passed, several of these people (who have heard the full story) urged me to return. I had acted like a mentor to a lot of these men and women, and they were depressed/upset/angry that I was pushed out of the scene the way that I was and could no longer be there to help with advice, training, or otherwise just be there to be a friend to them. For several days, people encouraged me to come back.

Ultimately, I decided that it would be best to return, but given the level of hate out there, that it would be best to just stay on private. Further, I would allow anyone who didn’t like me to simply unfollow or block me, so as to not bother them with my presence on Twitter. Contrary to what people thought at the time, my return was not to harass or bother anyone. Rather, it was to try to remain in contact with the several people who still care about and support me. I didn’t feel it was right to leave these people in the dark. And sure enough, many people reached out to me private when I returned and I was able to explain my situation.

--What is Your Plan Going Forward?

My plan is to simply continue to use Twitter as I did before, posting clips and content and using it as a form of contact to practice with and train people who reach out to me to learn Zelda or for the MU experience.

As far as competing goes, I’m extremely doubtful of the impartially of any decision as to whether I will be banned or not, seeing as how no one in a position to make such a decision has even spoken with me. That would be the equivalent of having a criminal trial and the defense is not permitted to be heard. But again, if people have already made up their mind about me, or think they somehow know me well enough to judge me without speaking to me, so be it. I wouldn’t want to compete in a community with people who threatened my life and tried to destroy my livelihood anyway.

Therefore, barring any kind of communication with those decision makers, my plan was already to refrain from competition going forward. However, it brings me a lot of joy to still be a resource for my friends and followers. I’m proud of everything I accomplished in my competitive Smash career, and it continues to bring me joy to share my talents and knowledge with others.

--Do You Have Evidence to Dispute What was Said About You?

As I said earlier, the goal of this Twitlonger is more of closure for those who were in the dark about me. However, some of the allegations about me were so ridiculous that I feel I have to make statements about the following 4 individuals.

~ScraftPunk

Some people are still trying to say that in some way groomed or attempted to groom Scraftpunk. The screenshot he posted, which contains one compliment from me, is literally our only interaction and he lives an entire continent away from me. Not that it even matters, because my compliment was harmless, but I also didn’t know his age at the time. As soon as he told me, I ended the conversation, because him telling me his age (17) suggested to me that he felt uncomfortable with my compliment. I believe this was the right response to that kind of situation.

That was literally the entire interaction. Anyone who has called this “grooming a minor” does not understand what grooming is.

~KatyParries

Katy’s story contains the most lies of any story told. Katy and I met almost a year ago when I posted some content on Twitter and we had a DM exchange about it. At the time, we had mutually told each other that we found each other attractive. We exchanged some flirtatious messages, and some pics. Katy, at the time, was 27/28 years old. I trust someone who is almost 30 to be a good judge of when to say if they are comfortable with something or not. And again, the exchange was mutual.

After this exchange, I lost interest, and tried to maintain the bond as friends. Katy said he felt used because of this, and ultimately blocked me done the line. After I started to stream, Katy unblocked me and had a phone conversation where he apologized for how he acted toward me. My impression was that we were on good terms going forward.

After some of these stories came out, Katy decided that it would be a good idea to post a screenshot from almost a year ago with the narrative that he felt pressured into sending messages and pics to me. I find that so interesting, seeing as how barely one month ago, Katy was still sending me unsolicited sexual messages like these when I was attempting to discuss ideas for our respective streams as friends:

[See comment 1 to this post]

It defies logic that someone can feel “pressured” to send sexual messages when they literally take it upon themselves to send messages like this, unprompted. Further, to the extent he felt pressured because I was a high lever player he admired, he probably shouldn’t have continued to send messages like that almost A YEAR after our initial (and only) flirtatious exchange. Someone does not become a victim a year later simply because it is opportunistic to become one at the time. Katy has always been jealous of my success (he admitted as much on a phone call with me last month), so it doesn’t surprise me that he would seize on an opportunity to help remove me from the scene.

~Jayce

Like Katy, Jayce is also a skilled manipulator of DM exchanges. Jayce took a screenshot of an interaction where I said I would be open to hooking up if we were ever in the same area (Jayce is in his mid-20s).

What he cleverly forgot to include was extremely creepy message he sent immediately before that, which actually made me extremely uncomfortable at the time. We were discussing upcoming Smash majors that would be early in the year. When I said I would be attending Let’s Make Big Moves & Collision, he thought it would be a good idea to fly out to stay with me for Valentines Day. I had literally spoken to him maybe twice by this point and was extremely weirded out by this. I never expressed any desire for a relationship or a serious commitment, nothing of the sort. I politely turned him down:

[See comment 2 to this post]

After that, I said make we could hook up sometime if there was a good vibe if we ever met, but that was it. He agreed that he would be into it, but that he was really trying to find a serious relationship. I gave him advice about some good dating apps to use, like Bumble. After a few conversations about his luck (or lack thereof) with dating apps, he never reached out again after that and neither did I. Like Katy, Jayce is not a victim when it becomes opportunistic to become one.

~FROOT

I’m going to spend very little time with this story because it actually wasn’t a new one. Months ago, FROOT spread malicious rumors about me trying to sexually assault her in my apartment. At the time, I didn’t know this was going on, and I was still attending tournaments alongside people who she had told. Not a single person I interacted with treated me differently, in large part because her allegations are ridiculous. She even tried to have me banned from events or remove me as a candidate for NJ PR because of it.

Plain and simple, I never assaulted FROOT in my apartment. It is a lie. I am not at all attracted to women, and have never viewed FROOT as anything more than merely a friend. And not to sound insensitive, but this is all I have to say: If you felt uncomfortable at any time, you could have left at any time. I was literally sleeping in my bed behind a closed door in another room and you were on my couch. You had your car keys, you were mere feet from my front door, you could have left at any time. But you didn’t, you slept there for the night, woke up, hung out for several hours and had breakfast with me the next day (helping me and filming me cook) and never once said anything about feeling uncomfortable. You were the one who started leaning on me and trying to seek physical comfort from me in the tournament venue. I put my arm around you to console you because you were crying about your breakup, as I believe any person with a heart and soul would have done. You know the truth. And that’s all I will say about that.

~Others

Out of respect for Insomniac, who has claimed to be suffering from anxiety over our interactions, and has expressed that he just wants to be left alone and to move passed what happened, I will not be addressing that situation here but to make one definitive statement, yet again: I NEVER sent any nude pics to him or any other person under 18. Further, I never had ANY sexual contact of any sort with him or any person under the age of 18. Period. Anyone who says otherwise is lying, and I will not allow that lie to continue to spread around unchecked. Anyone who has lasting concerns about this situation can message me privately to discuss it as to not cause him added distress.

Lastly, just because I didn’t mention someone here does not mean that I admit what they said about me. It just means that their “evidence” of harassment/assault/grooming/abuse/ whatever is so weak, or so clearly dramatized that I don’t feel the need to waste my time (or anyone else’s) addressing it.

--Conclusion

While I know that this post still won’t change a lot of people’s minds, I hope that this will help some people get a better perspective on what happened. As always, my DMs are open to those who currently follow me should you have follow up questions. My hope is to remain a resource and mentor for those who have confided in me and who still call me their friend.

To those that did not abandon me during my time of need. Thank you, truly. I will never forget your kindness and support.

Best always,
Ace

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