DeMoN likely banned by Valve over assault allegations

By Zhang 10 Jan 2021

Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho’s Dota 2 esports career is seemingly at an end.

Beyond the Summit announced that the veteran has been banned from the closed qualifiers for the North America DPC League. The team currently competing as Aristotle now has the chance to replace DeMoN from its lineup for the remainder of the qualifiers. The news was announced by Beyond the Summit on its official Twitter account:

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

News of the ban drew some criticism, most notably from former Evil Geniuses captain Peter “ppd” Dager. ppd stated he did not agree with the ban in a quote tweet:

This is so fucked up. Sad shit from @BeyondTheSummit sorry this is happening to you Jimmy https://t.co/4g6FIiQIkv
— Peter Dager (@Peterpandam) January 9, 2021

David “Godz” Parker from Beyond the Summit was quick to respond, suggesting that the ban came after an investigation and that the decision came from Valve itself:

I have to disagree Peter. We received information that was substantiated when we banned DeMoN from BTS events last year.

I understand not everyone has the same access to this information (to protect the anonymity of the victim) but I personally support the ban from Valve events.
— David Parker | Godz (@BTSGoDz) January 9, 2021

ppd wasn’t alone in questioning the move, but NA DPC League hopeful Luki Luki questioned why the announcement came in the middle of the closed qualifiers and not as soon as DeMoN announced his return to competition. For that, Godz stated that there wasn’t really any excuse.

“The timing sucks and we're really sorry to his teammates who are negatively affected by it. That part of things was an unfortunate mistake we can only apologize for,” Godz said.

Why is DeMoN banned from Dota 2 esports?

Though it wasn’t explicitly stated, DeMoN’s ban stems from allegations of sexual assault. Former Twitch staffer Eleine Sun publicly accused DeMoN of taking her into a room, blocking the door, and forcing her to kiss him.

Another member of the Beyond the Summit staff, Ken “Hot_Bid” Chen, also published an anonymous allegation of sexual assault against DeMoN. The person stated that DeMoN asked them for help in an isolated room, at which point he began groping them. This stopped when another member of the Beyond the Summit team entered the room, and Hot_Bid said that this allegation was corroborated.

DeMoN has vehemently denied any wrongdoing throughout, and continued to do so after the news was announced:

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

David “LD” Gorman announced that Beyond the Summit would refrain from working with him in the future. It is unclear if there were other issues that arose when DeMoN opted to go from coaching and commentary back to active competition.