Valve and Beyond the Summit recently banned Jimmy “Demon” Ho to compete in 2021 Dota Pro Circuit tournaments. Due to his alleged misconduct at some previous Dota 2 tournaments, the organizations are not letting the professional enter any tournaments. In June, Demon came out as one of the accused Dota professionals for sexual assault and inappropriate behavior. The professional will not be entering any professional league this year.
Player Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho has been banned from participating in the DPC due to misconduct at previous Dota 2 tournaments. Team Aristotle can continue to compete in the NA DPC league and will be permitted to register a replacement player.
— NA DPC League (@NADPCLeague) January 9, 2021
Esports #Metoo Movement
After the last summer’s Esports #Metoo movement, Valve ended a lot of Dota professionals’ careers. The organization came out as strict and penalized multiple professionals with lifetime bans. In the list of several professionals, Demon got his name in too. However, the player remained active in the game and participated in several leagues. Recently, Demon formed a stack for Dota 2 to compete in the upcoming North American qualifiers for the DPC. Surprisingly, Valve banned the professional from all the DPC events of 2021.
Second Round Elimination
Demon formed a new Dota 2 team, Aristotle. The team made it to the second round of the qualifiers when Beyond the Summit jumped in. The organization removed the professional from the tournament during the second round and gave his team a chance to keep playing. Team Aristotle can now compete in the tournament with a stand-in playing with them.
Demon’s Response
As BTS and Valve banned the professional from all the DPC events, Demon replied back. The professional has once again denied all the allegations against him and said he never admitted to the accusations. The professional said that after an initial attempt at physical affection, he remained friends with the accuser as they both moved on. However, she came out later in June against him to accuse him of sexual assault.
The professional also deleted his public apology last November. Demon said that he did not write this apology as he was emotional and hasty. He also says that he would not stop until he clears his name. The professional is going to begin by contacting Valve for the recent ban.
Absolutely ridiculous that allegations from anonymous people can ruin your whole reputation and career. I denied ALL of the accusations. A horrible statement does NOT make anyone guilty but that's what it feels like it's constantly leading back to. https://t.co/baj0sdvmPG
— Jimmy (@DotaDeMoN) January 9, 2021
Others’ Support
As Demon received a ban from BTS and Valve, multiple other professionals call out this move by Valve and BTS a shame. According to some posts, the professionals say that Demon denied all the anonymous accusations as they came along. Valve and BTS should not ban the professional for that.
However, Valve and BTS are private companies that can take any decision for the members working under them. Multiple internal discussions lead the organizations to ban the professional from all the DPC events. As a matter of fact, the founder of BTS David ‘Godz’ Parker recently posted an apology for the professional calling out the ban at such a crucial moment. He said that his team can continue in the tournament, but the organization feels terrible to call out this ban at the eleventh hour. The team will now compete in its upcoming match on January 10th with a substitute.
