After serious allegations have surfaced within Xtra Gaming, Players are leaving, partnerships are ending and the CEO has stepped down.
The allegations surfaced after Fortnite pro-JeffTheMVP claimed that two TikTok video artists, SirCarter and ThatsSoRaffy, drugged and sexually attacked him and a companion.
He further claimed that after telling his Xtra Gaming colleagues that he wanted to go public with the claims, the owner tried to silence him in order to protect the brand.
The alleged assault occurred in August this year and is documented on JeffTheMVP’s TwitLonger post. In the post he mentioned that:
” I was afraid that nobody would believe me because I’m a man. I felt emasculated and small. Never had I ever felt the way that I did and do still before.”
He also mentioned that when he approached his team he was strongly discouraged to come forward with his story stating:
“My e-sports team, Xtra Gaming even made me feel wrong for wanting to get what happened to me out to the public. They said that I would have to leave the team if I wanted to talk about this publicly. They said it would look bad on their brand. “It destroyed me to not have my team which is like family to me back me and be there for me. It was a bad feeling to be made to feel as if this was my fault. It wasn’t. Even my passion [for] gaming is tainted because of this situation.”
JeffTheMVP has said he has evidence to prove that he went to the police and reported the assault and filed an investigation report. He also has text and video proof apparently that “members of Xtra Gaming speaking to me as if it was my fault and that me going public with this would be bad for their brand.”
Since these incidents have transpired several members have announced their exit from Xtra Gaming. While Vohlii, Reet, and calebfnx simply declared their impending free agency, Trevor “verT” Orell slammed his old team’s inept handling of the situation.
Manny “Sly” Vieites, the company’s founder and CEO, also announced his resignation, citing the team’s “insensitive” handling of the situation in a statement. He stated:
“I take ownership in knowing I could have taken more of an aggressive/public approach to assist our players and for that, I am deeply sorry. Words cannot describe how saddened I am that I have failed our members, our community, and everyone that supported us. Therefore, I am taking time to reflect and stepping down as the CEO of Xtra Gaming, effectively immediately.”
Along with employees, Xtra has lost at least one key corporate sponsor: Razer said on Sunday that its agreement with Xtra will be terminated immediately.
The Xtra Gaming Twitter and Instagram accounts have also been deactivated, as has the Xtra website: Currently, the Xtra.gg URL redirects to an empty Shopify template.
JeffTheMVP has confirmed that he is looking for a new team and has said that his focus right now is to handle the assault and its aftermath stating:
“Honestly, it’s the community that’s killing it for me,” he said. “I’m so grateful for the positive feedback from everyone.”
With sexual assault charges abounding in the gaming world right now, it will be interesting to watch how things are handled in the future of gaming particularly with such serious allegations.
It takes great courage to stand up like JeffTheMVP has and we applaud him for that.