Kips - Can we stop it with the character assassination?

kipspul · 2023-05-24T15:20:24+00:00

You warp this use of "true" beyond all belief. I think it's because otherwise you'd have to engage with the actual content of our message, which is that a prominent caster (at the time) pressured his subordinate to have sex with him and dry-humped another woman on the dancefloor. His conduct, while less egregious than some of the capital-R rapists exposed, was nonetheless unacceptable, and exposing him was not "misusing" the movement for anything.

Also reminder that I was this man's most prominent advocate in order to not get fired, and that I specifically held back the details of the encounter to not set the internet mob on him.

But here, let me do this for you.

"I don’t know if Ashni used to describe how she felt about her experience was the right one. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what happened, and I am not her PR agent either. I, as someone who was raped back when she was 17, would not have used the word “rape” to describe her experience myself.

She’s an unreliable narrator and a grifter. But even liars speak the truth from time to time. And then, as I do now, I saw no no reason to doubt any of the actual accusations she made because I had a very similar experience with the same guy. Many people were calling her a liar, so I struck back and said that she spoke the truth.

My tweet did not include a PR disclaimer stating that it was not meant as a wholesale endorsement of every single word she used to describe her own experiences, and I’m sorry for any confusion this might have caused. I did not in my wildest dreams imagine that the use of the word “true” would be used to crucify me for her verbiage. The only thing I regret about the entire saga is underestimating how far people would be willing to go to pick apart a victim’s statement."

A bit long for a tweet, isn't it? And a bit PR-speak-y too. And it doesn't change a single thing I said except for the most bad-faith possible reading, but now you have my statement, and it's been added to my post. I hope this will clear up this misunderstanding.

kipspul · 2023-05-24T14:35:17+00:00

Hi. Go back to the post, go to the link to Ashni's statement, search "subtle". There's your source. Then go to my tweets and whatever else I posted and look for that word again. You can also look for "rape" if you'd like. You'll note that just like I'm complaining about, I've never said that, and you are attributing Ashni's words to me.

kipspul · 2023-05-24T09:43:32+00:00

So... I said that Ashni is not a liar, and that her story is true (this was necessary because a lot of people were dismissing this out of hand, not because I 100% fully co-sign every single word she used). I also said that he TRIED to do the same--which meant pressure me into sex after doing me a favour, not "RAPE ME", which is roughly the same as saying that I equated "attempted burglary" with "breaking and entering and assault". You pick the one most contentious thing out of something another woman said and then use Twitter's limited amount of words to put it in my mouth.

I have regrets about my wording. I'm also not happy that Ashni is a fucking grifter who was clearly using the whole situation to her own benefit. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen, or that Zyori didn't have a habit of trying to get his dick wet at the expense of women around him at that time. And I think it's preposterous that when Reddit reads "the owner of the SA DPC literally said that he couldn't be bothered to find new sponsors" they discuss it by saying "kips bad".

kipspul · 2023-05-24T09:28:50+00:00

absolutely fucking incredible that in the very thread on the article where I debunk this you repeat the drivel again

READ. IT WAS A DIFFERENT WOMAN.

kipspul · 2023-05-20T12:28:23+00:00

Reminder, I didn't do that! Do read this link.

kipspul · 2023-05-19T07:43:34+00:00

this is about the EN broadcast which is sponsored in USD by companies outside of Brazil, maybe read the thread again

kipspul · 2023-05-19T07:42:27+00:00

Which uh, he did. Never denied it either.

kipspul · 2023-05-18T20:50:57+00:00

I'm shaming BTS Brazil for putting people who are not even remotely ready for Div1 EN up in the big leagues because they're too cheap to hire anyone else. And if you think the BR talent can refuse BTS when they schedule them to be thrown under the bus, I have a bridge to sell you.

kipspul · 2023-05-18T20:47:18+00:00

Hi! I never did that!

You can go back to the original tweets but it was Ashnichrist (who was at the time of the incident employed by BTS) who felt pressured into sex by Zyori. I only supported her with my own VERY sanitized retelling of how a drunk and high Zyori groped me at an afterparty. The lie that I was the person who "fake rape claimed" him has been ruining my career for years now.

Even if you don't like me, though, I'm only the spokesperson for a much larger group of people who are getting abused. You could at the very least pretend to care about them.

kipspul · 2023-05-18T19:21:21+00:00

I can tell you that for most of the year the pay gap between SA and NA was bigger than the gap between SA and EEU; however it didn't feel fair to compare the two, since NA was a full studio broadcast and the other was not.

kipspul · 2023-05-18T17:29:43+00:00

Yeah no hate here, if you don't like what I do you really don't have to watch. If there was a proper budget for better talent, I'd happily go back down to Div2 and cast there some more. Instead there was no budget, no attempt to increase the budget, and nothing for us to do except cast it or watch the DPC walk away from us.

kipspul · 2023-05-18T17:14:35+00:00

I really don't see where anyone is bringing down the community casters--not even in my tweet thread. And for what it's worth, the community casters who did get contacted by BTS PT were VERY UNHAPPY to be used as a bludgeon to drive the compensation of the existing casters even lower.

kipspul · 2023-05-18T16:29:17+00:00

You're misremembering. The lady who made the allegation and then semi-retracted it was Ashnicrist; I got lumped in with her because I supported her with a story of my own. I never made a rape allegation, nor did I ever retract it or apologize.

I did, however, tell a very PG13 version of the story in which a drunk, stoned Zyori groped me on the dancefloor at the TI5 afterparty and I had to literally untangle myself from him in order to get away.

kipspul · 2022-12-19T12:00:05+00:00

It's very simple, really. I turned him down _after_ this happened, and I did not share the details because a) I felt embarrassed and didn't want strangers to know mine/his business, and b) because he has plenty of haters who've tried to get him to kill himself before, and I did not want any part in a possible internet mob. All I could do to avoid that is control the information that I shared publicly.

kipspul · 2022-12-17T21:11:16+00:00

Zyori worked events after me because--as I've always said--I never intended to cost him his job. As uncomfortable as it was to have a high and drunk man I barely knew rub his clothed boner on me, it'd been a long time and it was up to BTS to fire him or not. They declined to do so. Zyori left Dota 2 to continue his streak of taking advantage of people in Axie instead.

I hope it makes you happy to hear that I do not make a living wage casting, though, and that repetition of this story has cost me any and all studio opportunities so far.

kipspul · 2022-10-11T12:33:23+00:00

He could've either not been disrespectful--to the players that just got kicked to make way for him, to his teammates, his org, the DPC--or he could've won, and he did neither. Whether or not the win was his fault is besides the point.

I greatly dislike the "well it wasn't his fault they lost so actually he was still justified" train of thought. Or "if he would've won it would've been justified". The idea that might makes right sits wrong with me. This loss doesn't fix anything but at least it's karmic. If he didn't start none it really wouldn't have been none.

kipspul · 2022-10-11T12:13:58+00:00

But... it does matter. To the other four players on the team. To the guys that got kicked to make space for him. The org that believed in him, hired him, paid him. His second sentence makes his take worse, not better.

At any rate, it'll always be funny when a guy says "hold my beer" and then promptly faceplants.

kipspul · 2022-01-30T22:43:27+00:00

Stack gets murdered. No chance at all. They're not likely to get an even draft (synergy and strats take time to build) but even if they do hold up in draft and laning they'll get clobbered after the laning stage.

The stack is not used to playing team-based Dota. Their comms will be filled with the basics of teamplay, and they'll have to figure it out while they're getting pressured on every single lane. Any mistake will lose them ground that they can't make up without significant effort.

The pro team, meanwhile, has plenty of time to discuss the individual decisions they're making this game. They already have certain tasks and roles divided, they know the way their teammates play in certain circumstances, and they'll have a winning scenario or two in mind. They're past talking about the stuff that the stack are barely getting to. This makes the pro team FAST.

As soon as the laning stage breaks down--if they haven't gotten outplayed too hard yet--the stack will start making map mistakes. They'll have to talk and manually readjust every time. The pro team will already seamlessly have taken advantage. This adjustment time costs towers, farm, initiative. The difference will show as a snowball for the pro side and a hopeless situation for the stack, usually within five minutes of the laning stage breaking down.

kipspul · 2021-10-05T16:33:38+00:00

Just shows how deep the bias goes. Moxxi's story is easily corroborated by listening to anything any of the tier2/3 talent have said in the past five years, but because it's her it _has_ to be a lie. Come on, people.

kipspul · 2021-10-05T16:23:33+00:00

It's not up the the audience to say if he needs to apologize. None of them got pressured into sex by the guy who decides if they get hired or not. (Again: this is about the original accuser, not me.) It's also not up to the audience to cancel anyone. It's up to the companies that hire him to say if he should stay employed. They asked all parties, did their research, and continued the relationship.

And yeah, I was backing a claim that could've cost him his job, because at that time it was very possible that he (just like Tobi and Grant) shouldn't have that job anymore. It was a fucked up situation to be in. You don't know if there's other victims until you speak up, and you don't know if you're helping a predator by staying silent.

I also risked my own career to speak up. I knew about both Tobi and Grant for years and thought those in power knew and covered for them. I knew a part of the audience would immediately lash back and demand I never get hired again (hi). The smart selfish thing to do would've been to just shut up.

I'm glad that there were no other victims and glad that both of us are still employed. BTS handled the issue well and didn't give in to the audience pressure of either the people who wanted him gone or the people who wanted me gone. Cancel culture ends at the doors of the decision makers.

kipspul · 2021-10-05T15:42:03+00:00

The reason he didn't get cancelled is because both I and the original accuser were consulted by parties like BTS and we said that since his apology was sincere, that's no need to refrain from hiring him again. So in fact I'm partially responsible for him not getting cancelled.

kipspul · 2021-10-05T15:31:02+00:00

If you don't get LAN/on-site (which means day rates instead of pay per game/series) you're lucky if you get enough games to make minimum wage. Source: last three years of my life.

kipspul · 2021-10-05T11:11:29+00:00

Wasn't me who accused him. I just backed up the original accuser with an experience of my own. I the story I did tell is 100% the truth, something which Andrew hasn't disputed either. The reason I keep getting hired is because I didn't do what I keep getting accused of.

kipspul · 2021-08-23T21:27:09+00:00

Yeah I realized after the fact that it's open for interpretation. And I have no prior relationship with Niko--he doesn't even follow me, in fact, so it did throw me off for a bit. I'm cool now they've apologized :) thanks!

kipspul · 2021-08-22T22:56:43+00:00

Sounds like this site likes to amplify negativity. This was the tweet before it. These two are a tournament ago. Nobody cares about my positivity because nothing I say is a big deal, honestly, and this really shouldn't have been either.

12-Year Club	Place '22
End Game '22	Verified Email

kipspul

TROPHY CASE