NeoGAF goes offline in wake of sexual assault allegations
UPDATE: "The story doesn't reconcile logically with the facts," says site founder
Update: NeoGAF founder Tyler "Evilore" Malka has released a statement following the sexual harassment allegations recently levelled against him.
In a near 700 word statement, Malka spoke at length about why it took so long for his response to appear, and what led to the site going down originally, but kept his piece on the accusations brief.
"An allegation of sexual misconduct has been made against me by an ex," said Malka in a post on the site. "It's not true, the individual making the accusation isn't credible, the story doesn't reconcile logically with the facts, and there's plenty of evidence and witnesses to corroborate that. It'll be a process."
Original story: Video game forum NeoGAF remains offline this morning after sexual assault allegations were levelled against the site's founder, Tyler "Evilore" Malka.
In a Facebook post, one woman shared her experience of when Malka allegedly sexually harassed her in a hotel bathroom.
Users quickly began to protest NeoGAF, making posts requesting their account be permanently banned. According to Kotaku, around half of the sites moderators also stepped down in the wake of the claims.
The victim, film director Ima Leupp, told Kotaku: "I had no reason not to trust him. He had been introducing me to people and helping me network for my film company," she said. "I feel gross from having ever been in contact with this person."
Sparked by online movement #MeToo, countless men and women have spoken out about perpetrators of sexual assault in their daily lives, though rarely are they named as Malka has been.
The allegations levelled against Malka are at odds with his public persona, where he has been an advocate of progressive issues such as same sex marriage rights, and vocally anti-GamerGate.
One NeoGAF user wrote: "I ignored the fact that this forum was run by an awful petulant hypocrite who appears to engage in really awful behaviour towards women, while publicly decrying the exact same thing... GAF is acknowledged and recognised throughout the industry. I can overlook the fact that every single thread calling the owner out on his awful behaviour is locked right? I can just breathe through all the smoke. After all, it's not like I'm responsible for other people's shittness.
"But, I am. I absolutely am. By continuing to post on GAF, I'm continuing to turn a blind eye to reprehensible bullshit we've all heard about for a long time. I'm validating and rewarding the behaviour I spend a lot of time calling out on twitter."
NeoGAF is reportedly going to release a formal statement but had yet to do so at the time of writing.