Maniac has stepped down from the EPL broadcast following the allegations.
Mathieu ‘Maniac’ Quiquerez, a prominent CS2 analyst and former player, has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women. On Sept 4, Hannah Marie ZT, a freelance esports journalist, released a statement sharing her story of an incident at a CS2 afterparty.
Shortly after, Maniac released a statement disagreeing with the version of events. In the same post, the analyst stepped down from the ongoing ESL Pro League Season 20 broadcast. An hour after the response, a second statement followed, this time from esports interviewer and host Daisy "Dampptowel".
Hannah Marie ZT's statement
In Hannah Marie ZT's original post, she claimed that Maniac "groped, inappropriately touched, ground on, and grabbed” her from behind despite showing “clear discomfort and no reciprocation".
Allegedly, the incident occurred at an afterparty following a Counter-Strike event in the summer, and Marie reported the assault to a "relevant company." However, she did not disclose the company's name in the post for “confidentiality reasons.” According to Marie, the company ran an internal investigation and upheld her allegations.
But when asked for written confirmation of their investigations, Marie was accidentally looped into an email thread where "they admitted that they were planning on ignoring my continued pleas for written recognition of the investigation's result."
In the post, Marie claimed that "although Maniac was intoxicated, he appeared very much aware of his actions." She also claimed that the company that ran the investigations could not pass its findings. This is "due to their own confidentiality agreements".
She said she made the public accusation to warn others in the esports community about the caster and his alleged actions.
Maniac's Response
In his response to Marie's post, Maniac claimed that he had a drastically different recollection of events. He claimed that he had arrived at the party at half past midnight (which he says can be proven by his Uber receipts). Maniac further said that he was under the understanding that their flirting was mutual.
"If I missed the cues that the promiscuity wasn't accepted anymore. this is completely on me and outright unacceptable. Even if I do not accept this version of the events as truth, this person has the right to have experienced them as such, and I won't fight back on that."
Still, the analyst said that he did not think "any sexual assault took place. I believe inappropriate behavior is the only place this should start and end".
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Dampptowel Responds to Maniac's Statement
An hour after Maniac's response statement, esports interviewer and host Daisy "Dampptowel" shared her story from the event, strongly disagreeing with the analyst's version of the events. She claimed that she "was also groped multiple times by Maniac at the party. In full view of [her] fiancé." Daisy says that the interaction was "Clearly non-consensual and I said no and tried to escape multiple times."
He chased me down across the dance floor and followed me around the venue. There are witnesses to this. It was scary and a lot of girls there expressed the same feelings and similar groping and other unacceptable behavior from Maniac that night, recounting other times as well.
This incident was also reported to the "relevant parties" and was "handled by them directly". Daisy further corroborated Hannah's story, saying, "Hannah was not at all engaging with him in that manner. She was simply existing and was harassed by him as were multiple other of us that night."
In his initial response, Maniac stepped down from the EPL broadcast but has not made any further comments on the matter following Daisy's statement. A Dust2.us report has since revealed that the event in question was the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, London Afterparty, which has been confirmed to them by Marie.
esports.gg reached out to BLAST for a comment but did not head back at the time of publication.
esports.gg received the following comment from EPL organizer, ESL FACEIT GROUP:
We are aware of allegations made against an on-broadcast talent who has appeared on EFG’s analyst desk this year. While this incident did not take place at an EFG event, the safety of fans, players, and staff is our No. 1 priority. We are investigating the matter, and moving forward, the talent will no longer be part of the ongoing broadcast of ESL Pro League.
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