Smash pro Jason ‘Mew2King’ Zimmerman has responded to a since-deleted allegation of sexual assault, in a lengthy video explaining why the interaction that was alleged could not have happened.
Amid a flurry of accusations in the fighting game community, Zimmerman was just one of a handful of high-profile players to be caught up in the controversy, but has now debunked the allegation against him.
In a YouTube livestream on July 4, Zimmerman said: “I wanted to address a rumor about me that is not true. There is a screenshot on Twitter, that is a story that never happened”
“That is a complete lie. There is something else related to that that I feel I need to explain, because it relates to my inability to do certain things anyway.”
He explained that complications from circumcision as a child left him unable to “feel pleasure, orgasm, or any of that stuff.”
It is the first time he has shared this information publicly, saying he felt forced to do so due to the situation, and that he had heavily considered removing it from his book because he wasn’t ready to reveal it yet.
“I was 70% sure I was going to remove that from my book, because I was never ready to reveal this for the rest of my life, because I don’t want to go through life getting made fun of,” he added.
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M2K also said in his livestream that it had put him off streaming in the past because someone had found out, and he was fearful of being mocked or reminded of it on a regular basis from a viewer.
He also says that this condition and its long-term effects have contributed to “90%” of his depression and suicidal thoughts.
Speaking about the other allegations that have arisen about fellow players in the community, Zimmerman said: “I don’t know who to trust, I don’t know who is real, and everything I read just makes me sad.”
Later, he speaks on his friendship with some of the players who have now been outed. “I’m stupid, I didn’t know. […] It makes me extra sad to see all this stuff, because I literally didn’t even know and/or didn’t think about it because I was doing my own thing. Just Smash.”
Gonzalo ‘ZeRo’ Barrios, who Mew2King was friends with and often made content together, has admitted to various allegations of misconduct, and banned himself from future events, as well as quitting YouTube.