Update: Comments have been hidden on this article. I'm disappointed in some of the takes - we're better than this, Out of Cards community.
Blizzard has tweeted from the official Hearthstone Esports account stating that Paul "Zalae" Nemeth has been suspended from all Hearthstone Esports events. Zalae was due to play in the Hearthstone Grandmasters event which has its groups matches being played off-stream starting today in roughly an hour from this post.
Quote From @HSEsports Hearthstone Esports is aware of allegations made against Americas Grandmaster, Paul "Zalae" Nemeth. Upon further review, we have suspended Zalae from competing in all Hearthstone Esports events.
If you are involved in a domestic abuse situation, here is a list of hotlines that can provide you with support and resources.
For context, Rini accused Zalae of abuse during their relationship back in January of this year.
Quote From Rini I really don't think much will come of this, Zalae will likely deny or just duo stream with some friends, maybe take some time off, go visit his current girlfriend, whatever it takes to ignore discussing it. But I'm tired of keeping quiet and I really wanted his current girlfriend to see this because honestly, I can't deal with the idea of her possibly getting hurt like this or worse, and it would be on my conscience for not speaking up.
I tried to record this MANY times keeping his name out of my mouth but the editing was just too painful and I gave him multiple chances to speak to me regarding these things despite my therapist's direct orders to never speak with him again, but all have been unanswered and the more recent one has been sitting for over a month, and he's chosen not to say anything.
I'm going in order of big things > small
The last night we lived together, Zalae repeatedly was taunting/body posturing at me like he was going to hit me, closing me into small spaces, making himself appear bigger/threatening and physically grabbing my wrists tightly to hold me in the small spaces (there were about 10 - 13 occasions where I told him to back away because he was scaring me, and he would back away "oh gosh, sorry, you're right" before simply doing it again, all the meanwhile yelling at me with his face right in front of mine and refusing to sit down and compromise, which I had been trying to do the entire time
-This resulted in me giving 2 open-handed arm slaps I laid on the middle of his arm (-the biggest part- he's way bigger than me & I didn't use real force behind it, it was a warning because words were not helping and he was very scary)-
I was very clear to him about how he was scaring me and repeatedly vocalized this and kept moving my position to give myself more space so he would realize how enclosed I had been, but he continued closing me in and backing me into the counters or walls.
The second slap resulted in him physically picking me up and dragging me to the bedroom, throwing me on the bed, physically got on top of me and put a pillow over my face while holding me down, effectively suffocating me until I managed to get a breath to yell "I can't breathe!!"
He was in such a rage, he perhaps didn't even see what he was doing but I guess that snapped him out of it, so he got off of me. Woke me up early the next morning and he told me I had less than 24 hours to get out of his house and that -I- was abusive and he didn't feel safe.
I can't believe I believed him. But he also refused to listen to anything I would say about what he did, and in his mind I seriously believe he thinks because he didn't physically hit me, that somehow washes away his actions.
Zalae was incredibly emotionally abusive, telling me things like "you're not good enough" and "you're on a maternal clock, so you need to be better/what I want before you run out of time to have kids"
Oh, also - Get this.
Apparently he HAS to cum every day (which I accommodated) but when I explain I get off better with oral, he demands I apologize and says it's a big ask/time commitment because he had done it recently.
He would often argue just to be the winner of an argument (the FEW we had that were all small and insignificant) rather than usual level-headedness.
It was all about control. How dare I stand up for myself.
He needs serious help.
He needs to go to anger management.
He needs to realize he was in the wrong and that he instigated and intentionally threatened me with his body language and then eventually actual force because I wanted to compromise and he couldn't stand that he wasn't "winning the argument" instead of working with his girlfriend on an issue he was fully aware of.
The most frustrating part is, we really clicked, we really got along and I was never under the impression anything was wrong until he would come to me, frustrated that I wasn't working out enough. Like seriously, that was his reasoning even though we were going on walks/runs every day. He brought this up every 2-3 weeks for the 10 weeks I lived there despite acting like everything was perfectly fine otherwise.
He refused to help me along the way with working out for example until I really pulled his teeth about it and begrudgingly did so.
I frequently made myself available to him, but he expected me to simply do things because that's what he expected.
He's a control freak and it's really obvious he viewed us as a transactional relationship, nothing more. His lack of respect towards me has been appalling and I tried to not talk about it because I didn't want to affect his career but I'm sick of being quiet. His girlfriend deserves to know and I can't move on without this being said.
I've removed myself from the Hearthstone community because I just can't deal being around it/him despite having so many friends and people I respect in it.
I have had immense anxiety about going live because I don't know what to do anymore, or who I should be.
This is also a large reason I've been in search of community management/social media management positions, because honestly this has really ruined a lot about streaming as a whole for me.
I don't really have variety friends who I think want to play games with me, and I just feel like this break up has taken so much from me. But I needed to say this so you can all understand my hiatus and why I've felt so trapped and confused lately.
I don't know what else to say, but I'm open to answer more questions, because I definitely missed things between these two.
Oh, also if you want to continue supporting him, that's your prerogative, and I'm not suggesting you stop. But I also want you to know he's kind of shitty.
Thanks for listening/reading.
FWD: Thank you to those who encouraged me to speak up. I couldn't have done this without each of you.
Comments
It's not like I expected him to be an abuser, but I wouldn't be altogether surprised if these allegations are true. I was turned off from watching his streams after he went off on someone who asked a pretty innocuous question about a play he made, choosing instead to interpret it as some sly attempt at implying he misplayed. So, if nothing else, I believe the part about his anger management issues.
Same here. I jumped into his stream by chance, but soon I found him overreacting at some slightly critical chat comments with such an arrogance that I stopped immediately (while many viewers kept accomodating him like stereotypical cheerleaders, it felt pathetic to read as well).
I am usually cautious about these allegations, but I have few doubts about Zalae being an unstable person.
Man why are there so many of these...
If I was being smothered with a pillow I think I would go to the police instead of making a youtube video. It might be because we have been bombarded with stories like these lately with slazzo and pyrocynical and others but man it sours these things whenever I see them. It could be 100% genuine. I dont know either of these people. But just the way she says things.
It could be slight self loathing why she doesnt just leave after he does all these asshole things. Where she feels she has no other place or wants to make the relationship work. But surely if she is seeing a psychiatrist about the relationship and that professional which you should trust since you're probably telling them bigger secrets than the dirty laundry(basically literally with the cunnilingus thing) you're airing right now. You would think youd trust their judgement and leave.
Idk why but I am especially hung up on the control freak bit where she calls him that and I might be reading too into it like I said but other than the parts where she is talking about what he does to her it sounds like she wants the power in the relationship and not to have it fair both ways between the both of them.
Once again I hope all this is true. That the police are involved in this obvious domestic dispute. But if it's not true. If this man is innocent. His life is RUINED. Read the title it's not "suspended, pending investigation" it's suspended. Period. Ther will be no second chance. And I believe in that if hes guilty. But there should be a proper investigation. I'm tired of this, person is guilty because someone cried BS.
I remember mattress girl. And so should everyone else. Assault is not something you judge someone with lightly.
The vast, VAST majority of abusers go unpunished, while false accusations are extremely rare. Thus believing the victims of abuse is the only "fair" way to adjudicate abuse allegations, as it's much more likely that they're telling the truth about the abuse they experienced.
There is no way to "investigate" a crime that happened in private between two people that didn't result in a permanent physical injury. Each person's account is all you'll ever have to go on, and it's up to Blizzard (and everyone) to decide what to do given the information they have. There is absolutely nothing noble about defaulting to believing alleged abusers over alleged victims given the statistics in support of victims. Willfully ignoring that information is a truly disgusting choice to make.
Davidwizard, this is the best take I’ve read, very eloquently stated and I agree on all points. So thanks!
I wonder what the statistics for domestic abuse are for cases that just decide to make a youtube video about it.
And there is nothing wrong with waiting til all the facts are out and we hear both sides. Believe it or not you can believe the victim, and still wait to verify their account. You said there would be no signs of trauma. There would be if he was holding her wrists the way she claims. I doubt with her being a streamer apparently(again I do not know either party) there would be zero proof of brusing on her wrists from these.
I am assuming they live in an apartment, in which case their neighbors would hear arguments if they were as loud as she was suggesting. You suggest I am making light of the situation I am not. I think they should have contacted the authorities, sought help with family or a womens shelter or stayed with friends. Not made a YouTube video about it.
Every. Single. Time. These come out to be fake it makes that statistic you say more prevalent. That is why they should be heavily investigated. And we shouldnt just believe the victim.
The fuck man
Due process? What's that. Let's just all get mad and get rid of people because someone is crying. We dont need proof or evidence or an investigation. Surely no one would lie about something like this.
You wonder.......? Glad you don't know how prevalent it is across this normally wonderful world.
I hope she will be okay.
Thanks to OutOfCards for this article.
Good riddance.
Doesn't really surprise me. This guy always gave off some negative and unpleasant energy and shitty attitude towards his viewers
Welcome to the New World Order... Guilty Until Proven Innocent
What is wrong with people who downvote? Are people really ok with this pro player getting this treatment based on someone's claims?
You can believe her and respect her (which I also do), and not ruin people's lives at the same time, just based on words.
Believe victims who allege abuse, and then act accordingly on that information. They're much more likely to be telling the truth than making it up.
I am sorry for not acting based on the likelihood. Thats just not going to happen and I don’t think any sane person should.
As a matter of fact you do act based on likelihood all day. You fasten your seatbelt when you drive a car (hopefully) without ever having a serious accident. You take an umbrella when the weather forecast says there will be rain. Our whole lives are a constant evaluation of probabilities and then acting upon them. Each and every sane person does it because you're dead very soon if you don't. This is nothing else. Several factors strongly speak for the victim in this case, so acting against the offender is the reasonable thing to do as a community. Blizzard's suspension is well within their rights if it not even is their duty to act like that, if they want to live up to their very own code.
It's actually frightening how casually you are taking this all in. The offense is really serious and happens quite a bit.
I am not taking it lightly, Just not sure how the fact that “happens quite a bit” is supposed to convince me to support an action as concrete making the guy lose his job.
Jesus dude, you can try harder than that. “Happens quite a bit” Really????
I get it - you want facts. You want something hard and tangible to sink your teeth into and not pixy dust and smoke. Fact of the matter is statistically, the numbers are not favorable for women in situations of abuse. Also realize that this has happened before within esports or just the online community and how many were actually false alarms? Boy that cried wolf?
Yes, it's still technically wrong to judge a guy unconvicted of his crime, especially without hearing his side. You arent wrong in your stance. At this point, the evidence weighs heavily against him though. We dont know what Blizzard knows but the fact they suspended him is a big deal IMO.
While I may be wrong to judge against him....I'll take my chances on this one and take my leap of faith.
....and wtf is with your language? "Jesus dude"? really? What are you? A college frat boy with nothing respectful to say? It's called a discussion on an online forum.