The Daily Dot: Ousted Apex Head Reportedly Eyes Return

[TimeSmash]

Sorry that I'm being overly curt but **** this guy. He shouldn't be associated with this community at all

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

Sing it with me:

♪HE HAS NO STYLE, HE HAS NO GRACE

THIS GUY, IS A ****ING DISGRACE!

HE CAN BE A CREEP, WHEN HE NEEDS TO

HE'S THE WORST MEMBER OF THE APEX CREW!
♪

I died to this lol.

 

[Claire Diviner]

Knowing Alex Strife's recent bull****, I can almost guarantee that his return will not fling s*** into a fan, but catapult elephant s*** into helicopter blades.

 

[Tino]

Eyeing a comeback despite the numerous allegations against his sorry ***? This guy is even worse than Bill Cosby.

 

[TopTierPichu]

c'mon Smash community show the rest of the FGC that toxic people like him have to be removed for good

also if he says he is secretly still running APEX, I think we as a community should just boycott it and not have another APEX again, I hear smash con may be a better alternative

 

[WinterShorts]

Man, talk about going from Founder of Apex to stepping down from his own place. Has anyone else sunk this low?

 

[AngryDeathBox]

Knowing Alex Strife's recent bull****, I can almost guarantee that his return will not fling s*** into a fan, but catapult elephant s*** into helicopter blades.

I thought of this for some reason.

Anyways, Bpex 2016, lessgo.

Edit: My b, replaced vid with the correct jump.

 

[The_Woebegone_Jackal]

The whole situation can be solved with one word:

No.

"No" obviously doesn't mean anything to this guy.

 

[Deleted member]

Simple reminder that men who do professional genital mutilation will never be a girl.

Rules of nature dealt the card and they have to accept for who they are, no matter how small you chop your penis.

Oh look, a wild imbecile appeared.

 

[Claire Diviner]

Simple reminder that men who do professional genital mutilation will never be a girl.

Rules of nature dealt the card and they have to accept for who they are, no matter how small you chop your penis.

Get out. It's ignorance, such as yours, that attempts to poison the community with such close-minded, hateful, and spiteful bull****!

 

[Iceweasel]

...Am I crazy for giving this guy the benefit of the doubt? The only evidence against him is that several people claim to have been harassed by him. Anyone can say anything, and a lot of people are overly sensitive or take statements differently than most people would. While Alex Strife himself has not answered these allegations, don't forget that they were brought up shortly before the APEX tournament... The same one that Nintendo, known for being image-conscious, sponsored. For all we know, Nintendo pressured the APEX crew to not say anything and deal with this as quietly as possible. It's very likely that Nintendo's influence helped shape both the Smash 4 rules and the decision to leave Project M out in the cold, so it's not much of a stretch that they would involve themselves in a controversy like this too.

Note that I'm not saying that Strife is definitely, 100% innocent, I just feel that it's best to reserve judgement until there's some actual evidence.

 

[Claire Diviner]

...Am I crazy for giving this guy the benefit of the doubt? The only evidence against him is that several people claim to have been harassed by him. Anyone can say anything, and a lot of people are overly sensitive or take statements differently than most people would. While Alex Strife himself has not answered these allegations, don't forget that they were brought up shortly before the APEX tournament... The same one that Nintendo, known for being image-conscious, sponsored. For all we know, Nintendo pressured the APEX crew to not say anything and deal with this as quietly as possible. It's very likely that Nintendo's influence helped shape both the Smash 4 rules and the decision to leave Project M out in the cold, so it's not much of a stretch that they would involve themselves in a controversy like this too.

Note that I'm not saying that Strife is definitely, 100% innocent, I just feel that it's best to reserve judgement until there's some actual evidence.

It's not just his sexual harassment issue though, but his outing and discriminatory actions to the transgender community (trans women, in particular), which have evidence backed by actual chat logs.

http://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/2t1cq1/the_truth_about_alex_strife_part_2_nyani_edition/

 

[Pazx]

If he goes back to the Apex team I expect a large boycott of Apex 2016

 

[stancosmos]

Sounds more like a public shamefest. If none of the victims are going to do the responsible thing and press charges then everyone should get off his ***.

He is already gone from Apex. This is turning into harassment from the community. How ironic!

I'm just gonna tell you this for your own benefit. If you're not a victim of any kind of sexual assault or harassment, none of those victims give a **** what you think about what they should do.

 

[Atrabilious]

I guess the ESEX article wasn't too far off the mark.

Time for Bpex, in the name of decency.

 

[Iceweasel]

It's not just his sexual harassment issue though, but his outing and discriminatory actions to the transgender community (trans women, in particular), which have evidence backed by actual chat logs.

http://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/2t1cq1/the_truth_about_alex_strife_part_2_nyani_edition/

For starters, thanks for providing hard evidence. If this sounds sarcastic, I don't intend it to - I genuinely thank you for providing a post that contains his actual words and context. That said, they don't really prove much. There was a slightly disturbing comment at the end of the first chatlog, but I didn't see any reply telling him to chill out or back off. We're all adults here. If you don't appreciate someone's advances, then say so or you have no right to complain. Even if you don't think they'll listen. The so-called "threatening message" didn't strike me as a threat at all, though I can't say I know what to make of it. It's just a vague statement, as far as I can tell. The only thing that raised any major red flags was that Strife owed someone a lot of money and didn't want to pay up - I seem to recall that being from the first Reddit post on the matter, and I wish someone would bring more evidence on the matter.

 

[GaMeR N1CK]

How about we just don't let a sex offender run an event that involves a community that despises him.

 

[Dr. Tuen]

I've read through as many logs and accounts as I could find... and unfortunately, I don't see him getting convicted of anything even if it's brought to the court. I've recently had to deal with court proceedings involving sexual abuse (not harassment, abuse)... and two years of straight out abuse turned into 3 separate charges and probation.

The presentable evidence doesn't come anywhere near that, so it's not likely to be a punishable offense. Don't get me wrong, he shouldn't be anywhere near big smash events... but if we want something to happen regarding banning him from our community, we'll have to enact it ourselves.

Also, if there is "enough" evidence but the victims aren't coming forward... there are valid psychological reasons for it. It's a long explanation, but don't think it's simple to step forward in a case like this.

 

[Dr. Tuen]

How about we just don't let a sex offender run an event that involves a community that despises him.

Sorry for the double post, but I'd also like to point out that we can't legally call him a sex offender unless he's been convicted. Otherwise, doing that is essentially libel (not legally substantiated claims of character). Also not legal.

 

[Lizalfos]

This wreeks of made up click bait ****.

Cristin was harassed or threatened too if I recall correctly. Why would she let this happen?
They are a couple nvm.

Still doesn't seem legit.

 

[Casval]

For starters, thanks for providing hard evidence. If this sounds sarcastic, I don't intend it to - I genuinely thank you for providing a post that contains his actual words and context. That said, they don't really prove much. There was a slightly disturbing comment at the end of the first chatlog, but I didn't see any reply telling him to chill out or back off. We're all adults here. If you don't appreciate someone's advances, then say so or you have no right to complain. Even if you don't think they'll listen. The so-called "threatening message" didn't strike me as a threat at all, though I can't say I know what to make of it. It's just a vague statement, as far as I can tell. The only thing that raised any major red flags was that Strife owed someone a lot of money and didn't want to pay up - I seem to recall that being from the first Reddit post on the matter, and I wish someone would bring more evidence on the matter.

It's hard to understand the gravity of the situation without understanding the implications.

The privacy of trans people is very important for many reasons and should not be violated. Strife outed her and another trans individual, which is a really big deal. Most people don't get it because they're unaware of what happens afterwards.

Trans people are mocked, harassed, assaulted, and even killed occasionally when outed under unfavorable circumstances. It's nobody's business except theirs and who they choose to share their lives with. When you shout it all out like that, you're putting them in a really bad and potentially dangerous position. Best case scenario is that they'll be harassed, teased, mocked, told their identity is invalid, become fetishized by people who can't tell the difference between porn and real life (like Strife did) etc, but the worst case scenario is that some people will view their lives as having less value, and that's even more harmful.

Also, I respectfully disagree with your stance on how she should have done something about his advances. I feel like that course of action would have resulted in Strife going around and telling even more people without her permission, which just compounds the issue even more.

The message where Strife opened with "how's hrt" is super messed up as well. "how's hrt" = "I'm sticking my nose in your business" and "people are very proud of you" = "I've told people already", which basically implies that he has the power to tell more people if he wishes. You don't want to anger someone who can do something like that to you.

But in the sense that it probably wouldn't prove anything in court, you're probably right. The judicial system isn't prepared for these sorts of things because the trans rights movement has only recently gained so much of the momentum that it has today and the courts haven't caught up yet.

 

[teluoborg]

Sing it with me:

♪HE HAS NO STYLE, HE HAS NO GRACE

THIS GUY, IS A ****ING DISGRACE!

HE CAN BE A CREEP, IF HE WANTS TO

AND BECOME PEDO, JUST FOR YOU
♪

Fixed that, for you

 

[Iceweasel]

It's hard to understand the gravity of the situation without understanding the implications.

The privacy of trans people is very important for many reasons and should not be violated. Strife outed her and another trans individual, which is a really big deal. Most people don't get it because they're unaware of what happens afterwards.

Trans people are mocked, harassed, assaulted, and even killed occasionally when outed under unfavorable circumstances. It's nobody's business except theirs and who they choose to share their lives with. When you shout it all out like that, you're putting them in a really bad and potentially dangerous position. Best case scenario is that they'll be harassed, teased, mocked, told their identity is invalid, become fetishized by people who can't tell the difference between porn and real life (like Strife did) etc, but the worst case scenario is that some people will view their lives as having less value, and that's even more harmful.

Also, I respectfully disagree with your stance on how she should have done something about his advances. I feel like that course of action would have resulted in Strife going around and telling even more people without her permission, which just compounds the issue even more.

The message where Strife opened with "how's hrt" is super messed up as well. "how's hrt" = "I'm sticking my nose in your business" and "people are very proud of you" = "I've told people already", which basically implies that he has the power to tell more people if he wishes. You don't want to anger someone who can do something like that to you.

But in the sense that it probably wouldn't prove anything in court, you're probably right. The judicial system isn't prepared for these sorts of things because the trans rights movement has only recently gained so much of the momentum that it has today and the courts haven't caught up yet.

It just dawned on me that hrt=hormone replacement therapy. My bad, it's 5:00 AM my time and it looked like a typo. I agree, that is very personal. As for not telling people, it can hardly be expected that people know that. Transwhatevers make a giant fuss about their identity, and will cuss you out if you refer to them with the wrong pronoun. People who don't hang around trans people (or Tumblr) can only assume that the point is to tell everybody.

However, the real reason I made this reply is the last thing you said: "It wouldn't prove anything... The courts haven't caught up yet."
This is disturbing on so many levels. Generally speaking, personal information is legally treated as secret unless one party reveals it to another. Of course, there are exceptions and special cases, like non-disclosure agreements and medical records, but that's usually how it goes. A secret is only secret if you keep it as such. Or is the issue with proving something in court? Let me tell you, it's bitten me in the ass several times that the law can't help you unless you have good evidence. Yet I'd go through those ordeals all over again if the alternative was accusation=guilty. I'm not sure which of these, if either, you mean, though I have seen a lot of support for both. The first would be pretty bad - Imagine if someone could sue or have you arrested if you revealed anything that they might not like! Whether it's as simple as an unflattering anecdote, an unusual place for a mole, or a warning to a friend that their new gf/bf has a history of psychotic episodes. The second would be absolute chaos, and believe me, I know chaos. If you angered someone, they could accuse you of a serious crime and have you locked up, without any evidence or substantiation of their claims. The entire country would turn into a dystopia full of Stepford Smilers, where slightly inconveniencing the wrong person could have you hauled off by the state police and everyone is deathly afraid of everyone else. Again, I'm not sure which, if any, you support, but I've seen a massive support for one or both (lots of the second on Tumblr).

 

[StarshipGroove]

god damn it people

Apex IS Alex
Alex is the owner of Apex
he never actually went away. he was simply directing apex behind the scenes and will do so in the future.

Do not support Apex, in any way, shape or form. end of discussion.

 

[ansossy]

This piece of **** Alex Strife needs to shoot himself. He's ruined enough lives already and his harassment and other stupid **** he has done just to return to Apex is ****ing stupid. Now he's ruining the reputation of a major tournament. This guy is one of the biggest most complete pieces of **** I've ever seen in the Smash community. The only reason this ****** is not in prison right now is because evidence for proving such cases is ridiculous.

Simple solution to this whole mess: Alex Strife is sent to Prison or he shoots himself. Two ****ing great choices. Turn yourself in or end your life because you're a ****ing pig who doesn't care about others and is not worth living any more of your life.

 

[Tino]

That mutha***** shouldn't be allowed to show himself in a Smash community again for his bull**** fantasy world.

 

[User52]

Seen it a hundred times, wait a month and say you're changed. Nope, he definitely should not come back.

 

[Lizalfos]

Jesus guys. He is wrong, but he shouldn't kill himself.

 

[Casval]

It just dawned on me that hrt=hormone replacement therapy. My bad, it's 5:00 AM my time and it looked like a typo. I agree, that is very personal. As for not telling people, it can hardly be expected that people know that. Transwhatevers make a giant fuss about their identity, and will cuss you out if you refer to them with the wrong pronoun. People who don't hang around trans people (or Tumblr) can only assume that the point is to tell everybody.

However, the real reason I made this reply is the last thing you said: "It wouldn't prove anything... The courts haven't caught up yet."
This is disturbing on so many levels. Generally speaking, personal information is legally treated as secret unless one party reveals it to another. Of course, there are exceptions and special cases, like non-disclosure agreements and medical records, but that's usually how it goes. A secret is only secret if you keep it as such. Or is the issue with proving something in court? Let me tell you, it's bitten me in the *** several times that the law can't help you unless you have good evidence. Yet I'd go through those ordeals all over again if the alternative was accusation=guilty. I'm not sure which of these, if either, you mean, though I have seen a lot of support for both. The first would be pretty bad - Imagine if someone could sue or have you arrested if you revealed anything that they might not like! Whether it's as simple as an unflattering anecdote, an unusual place for a mole, or a warning to a friend that their new gf/bf has a history of psychotic episodes. The second would be absolute chaos, and believe me, I know chaos. If you angered someone, they could accuse you of a serious crime and have you locked up, without any evidence or substantiation of their claims. The entire country would turn into a dystopia full of Stepford Smilers, where slightly inconveniencing the wrong person could have you hauled off by the state police and everyone is deathly afraid of everyone else. Again, I'm not sure which, if any, you support, but I've seen a massive support for one or both (lots of the second on Tumblr).

A lot of folks on tumblr are very hard-line on their stances, which in itself isn't a bad thing, but sometimes their idealism goes beyond practicality and their attitude towards anyone not on the exact same page as them is incredibly damning.

My apologies if I gave that impression.

I didn't mean to align myself in either of those camps either, the issue is far too complex for such black and white solutions. Obviously there would be limits to applications.

When you say that a secret is only a secret if you keep it as such, you're right. But there are two points to bring up here.

First is that Nyani was obviously keeping it a secret. She didn't tell Strife, or his friends, etc. They guessed. Mark confirmed it because he was honest. In this scenario, the only person involved who Nyani told was Mark, and his affirmation of the information is a real gray area because it's not about him and it's not his call.

But if she told Mark, does that mean she lost all expectation of privacy concerning that information?

Not necessarily. Telling someone a secret doesn't automatically strip it of its legal status as a secret. It still retains its legal status if said secret was discussed in confidence, something that isn't limited to doctor/patient or attorney/client privilege.

I do believe that the US Code outlines confidentiality privileges in some cases to be valid in situations where it was explicitly stated that said information would not be disclosed or under circumstances that would create reasonable expectation from the source of the information that the information would not be shared. However, I am not a law expert, so I don't know the entire context of that passage.

Also I gotta be honest and admit that I don't know where your two dystopian scenarios are coming from. I just think that certain things need to be protected.

Kinda going off on a tangent here. Last year California banned using the de facto gay panic defense in courts. It wasn't an actual defense, but crimes of passion get lesser sentences so people all over the country were using the crime of passion defense to excuse their violence against queer and trans people and get off easy, as I'm sure you're aware.

The fact that it was such a prevalent problem that a state had to specifically create a ruling for it should be evidence enough that anyone who could be outed might see being outed as a serious danger and threat to their safety.

So no, I don't think either of the hypothetical situations that you say tumblr have narrated are the solution to the problem. I don't have a solution. But like, it's a real slippery slope. If something you say gets someone killed, you should be held responsible. Unfortunately it's too late at that point.

I'm really just hoping the problem ceases to exist once awareness spreads to the level required for the world to be safe for everyone, but that's a long time from now.

Also, I didn't mean to say that she should take it to court, just that if she did it wouldn't be a fruitful endeavor.

 

[DavemanCozy]

"ppl like to make stuff up"

Is he for real? The accusations brought up against him were pretty serious, whether they were "made up" or true and whether they were formal complaints or online posts.

I had heard that he was getting better and showing improvement, but this casual dismissal just tells me he's not. He really needs help.

 

[Dooms]

...Am I crazy for giving this guy the benefit of the doubt? The only evidence against him is that several people claim to have been harassed by him. Anyone can say anything, and a lot of people are overly sensitive or take statements differently than most people would. While Alex Strife himself has not answered these allegations, don't forget that they were brought up shortly before the APEX tournament... The same one that Nintendo, known for being image-conscious, sponsored. For all we know, Nintendo pressured the APEX crew to not say anything and deal with this as quietly as possible. It's very likely that Nintendo's influence helped shape both the Smash 4 rules and the decision to leave Project M out in the cold, so it's not much of a stretch that they would involve themselves in a controversy like this too.

Note that I'm not saying that Strife is definitely, 100% innocent, I just feel that it's best to reserve judgement until there's some actual evidence.

He responded saying that people were lying according to this article, but why would he come out and publicly comment on any of this unless it was 100% false? Anything he could say could make this worse unless he somehow had proof that this was all a lie. Considering the multiple chat logs posted under both of his facebook accounts, his skype, etc that show that he did what he did... Yeah, you're kind of crazy for assuming that there's even a slight chance of innocence.

Sexual harassment is not one of those things where you just throw out the "innocent until proven guilty" card... ESPECIALLY in a gaming community where females already struggle to be treated normally. This is a community where we just want to get together with a bunch of strangers and friends alike and play video games. Do we want to have even the slightest risk of a pedophile and sex offender to be there with potentially 14-15 year old girls on top of making every female feel unsafe to go to tournaments? Do you REALLY think that female smashers want to make it worse for themselves by "starting unneeded drama"? They're already treated extremely differently (for better or for worse) regardless.

What would Nintendo's involvement have to do with removing a legitimate threat to part of our community from tournaments? I don't give a **** if Nintendo is trying to hush-hush the issue. My female friends are seriously threatened by this person that is refusing to comment on the issue aside from calling them liars. Nintendo's involvement doesn't change that in the slightest.

Also, if there is even the slightest chance of Alex Strife being involved with Apex in any way, shape, or form, then it definitely needs to be boycotted to the point where it just isn't a thing anymore. Shouldn't be that hard considering the fact that Apex 2015 was one of the worst nationals yet (thanks to him).

 

[DavemanCozy]

...Am I crazy for giving this guy the benefit of the doubt? The only evidence against him is that several people claim to have been harassed by him.

I don't think you're crazy. You're right to question what you read and hear.

Reading again, we still have yet to hear from Strife regarding the accusations, except for this alleged quote. Which makes him look pretty dismissive, as if the accusations against him (even if false) didn't matter. But, it isn't directly sourced either, which is rather iffy.

From what I heard during my Apex 2015 trip, even though all this came to light, no one filed charges against him because they want him to seek help and get better. If this is the case, if the people closest to him clearly care for him (Crismas is a saint), a casual dismissal doesn't make sense... From whichever way you look at it.

 

[DunnoBro]

Exercising "innocent until proven guilty" should never be considered a crazy thing. It's just things are pretty much proven at this point, too many overlapping collaborating testimonies.

It's a bit of a tricky issue, since it seems like charges weren't filed mostly to let him seek help and improve, thus disallowing the courts to "prove it."

It's difficult, but I think this "git out and stay out, asshole" is counter-productive to what the victims want, as it denies any incentive to improve, so I will refrain some such notions.

I know first-hand that going on a crusade for what you think the victims of sexual harassment want instead of listening to and respecting them, while admirable in a sense, is often not the proper route to making them feel safe.

 

[Zzuxon]

 

[Keman]

I don't know anyone involved with this situation directly, but it does appear as though Alex is very good at manipulating people. Which I hope he isn't able to do and get back into the community in some form or fashion.

I personally wish he would step away from the Smash community fully. As I don't see the community benefiting in any way shape or form with his presence in it.

 

[Z25]

He isn't and better not come back!This guy's an idiot if he thinks it be a good idea, he would a mob of the fanbase going after him.

 

[SuaveChaser]

People telling alex to kill himself aren't much better.

 

[ProjectAngel]

Do ANY of you even realize what bringing that piece of turd back to the Apex staff will do?

It's going to send the message that his very behavior is acceptable, and that people like him can hold influence in the Smash community. In other words, the Smash community's reputation will be permanently stained.

Just keep this cancer out of the community,

 

[Sen. Sawft]

>Alex Strife eyeing comeback

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Sing it with me:

♪HE HAS NO STYLE, HE HAS NO GRACE

THIS GUY, IS A ****ING DISGRACE!

HE CAN BE A CREEP, WHEN HE NEEDS TO

HE'S THE WORST MEMBER OF THE APEX CREW!
♪

I think I'll need to go to the hospital becuase I laughed so much, my sides exploded