After two years of silence, former world number one Smash player Elliot ‘Ally’ Barroza-Oyarce has spoken out on sexual harassment allegations leveled against him by fellow pro Zack ‘CaptainZack’ Lauth, saying he “regrets everything” but ultimately was the victim.
Ally was ostracized from the Smash community in 2019 after his relationship with CaptainZack was made public.
At the time of their relationship Ally was 27, while CaptainZack was 16.
Ally chose to retire from Smash immediately, and was swiftly banned from all tournaments by the Harassment Task Force. However, after briefly returning in March to talk about his struggles, he has dropped a 12-minute statement on July 27 detailing everything regarding the allegations.
Barroza-Oyarce’s statement, two years in the making, disputed the allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him by not just CaptainZach, but his ex-partner.
“She abused me for two years with things I didn’t want to do and felt uncomfortable posting on my Twitter,” he said of his ex-girlfriend.
“She kept pressuring me until I would give in. I blocked her one day because I noticed she was not good for my mind and made me admit things I never did in order to use it against me.”
She reportedly took the Smash star to court, but didn’t win the case. However, despite this, Ally said “she’ll never admit any wrongdoings”.
Regarding CaptainZach, he “regrets everything” about getting intimate with the then-16-year-old. However, Ally says he was abused in that relationship and “panicked”, which led to more problems down the line.
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“He approached me while I was in my worst mental state. I had no clue of his intentions until I was alone with him in his hotel room. He tried to kiss me and I panicked because all these years I was doing everything someone else was telling me to do. I told him not to tell anyone,” he said.
“I knew how depressive he was so I was afraid he would hurt himself.”
Ally claimed he was blackmailed by CaptainZach before ultimately breaking everything off. He said they “took advantage of his kindness” in both relationships.
“I didn’t abuse any of these people. They took advantage of my kindness. I’m aware I made some very poor choices. I’ve been depressed and I barely got any sleep after I started doing horrible in Smash 4,” he said.
“My relationship with Zach was really wrong, and I regret everything. I wish I had been stronger that day but I couldn’t, and afterwards I felt like I was stuck in it. After realizing how bad and wrong it was, I was just ‘I’m probably going to get screwed at some point.’ I apologize for being weak.”
The former number one admitted that he’ll “never get to compete seriously” again, but also said “parts of me wants to never compete” again.
“I was sent to therapy to see if there was anything wrong with me. I wasn’t sure myself. They didn’t find anything wrong, it was just my mental state and stupid decisions.”
Ally’s statement comes after multiple other former Smash pros have apologized for sexually harassing other community members.
Commentator D1 refuted “patently false claims” of rape being made against him in July, while Nairo claimed he was innocent back in February. The latter has made a successful return to the scene, streaming on YouTube after being banned from Twitch.