Valve has removed Toby “Tobiwan” Dawson’s voice lines from the DOTA 2 TI10 Battle Pass after the longtime DOTA 2 commentator was accused of sexual assault, according to esports source Rod Breslau.
Valve has removed Tobiwan's voice lines from the Dota 2 TI10 Battle Pass following allegations from several women of sexual misconduct pic.twitter.com/tTIYbpRVxt
— Rod "4475 SR & Immortal peak" Breslau (@Slasher) June 25, 2020
A cosplay artist who goes by Meruna said in a TwitLonger post that Dawson “could not take ‘No’ for an answer and initiated sexual activity with me against my clear and repeated wishes.”
She said that Dawson admitted to the act in a private conversation she had with him after nine years of not speaking to each other.
She said the incident occurred in the winter of 2011 when she was 18 years old.
“I was… a child with no concept of consent, red flags or friends-with-benefits,” Meruna said. “I thought if two people liked each other, they would become boyfriend and girlfriend. Toby was a 26-year-old man, fully aware that of my age and my naivety.”
Before meeting Dawson in Berlin, Meruna and him played 20 questions together in an online chat. She still has 158 pages of the chat log.
“His last question was ‘How many inches do you think I am?'” Meruna said. “I said ‘Oh, like your body height?’ This should be enough to show you that I was a dumb/innocent kid with a crush.”
A Twitter user known as cofactorstrudel said that every single woman she knew told her to be wary of Dawson.
“It’s an open secret among women in the industry,” the user said. “Some of his victims are STILL too scared and traumatized to come forward, even anonymously.”
Ok, I had to return for this.
Every single woman I know has told me to be wary of Toby Dawson. It's an open secret among women in the industry.Some of his victims are STILL too scared and traumatised to come forward, even anonymously.
God help you Toby if they ever do.
— 707 in a sun dress hacking police radios coz BLM (@cofactorstrudel) June 25, 2020
Meruna made an TwitLonger post yesterday where she said she was sexually assaulted, but she didn’t name who.
After that post was published, Dawson wrote that “for mistakes I have made in the past I tried my best to discuss privately with those I have wronged to allow them to freely speak their mind.” However, Meruna said that she was not contacted. She had to contact him.
“He said sorry many time [sic], that it was a difficult time back then, that he didn’t understand the situation himself – nothing that didn’t feel like PR seminars and damage control,” Meruna said. “I am not sure if he is able to issue a genuine apology.”
Dawson wrote his own TwitLonger post where he responded to all the people that raised allegations against him.
Dawson mentions an anonymous person, a cosplayer. Though he didn’t say that this was Meruna. During a competition (TI5), he invited her to come to his hotel room to stay the night after learning that she was sharing a hotel room with four other people. She didn’t say yes at first but then she decided to come over. After a few hours of talking he leaned over and kissed her, and then she told him that she’s been waiting for him to do that. He said they had consensual sex that night.
He then talks about an artist who goes by Botjira. Botjira previously talked about on her own Twitter account how she was groomed by predators in the video game community and how she’s had to distance herself from the DOTA community in particular, though she didn’t name names.
I’ve been on heavy meds for years, alcoholism for years, just to avoid reality,” Botjira said. “I won’t deny I’ve had many a suicide attempt over the past few years.”
Dawson said that she met Botjira at an event in Singapore where she made art for him, and then he messaged her to see if they could hang out at his apartment. After talking for a few hours he “thought she was interested in me and I tried to lean in to get closer. She pulled back and I realised I misread the situation.” After talking for a bit longer she decided to leave, and then he said she didn’t have to go. But she left and he didn’t stop her.
“At no point did I pin her down or stop her from leaving,” Dawson said.
Read More: Twitch Looking into Dozens of Allegations of Sexual Misconduct Regarding Its Partners