Steven R. June 25, 2020
Toby "TobiWan" Dawson is being accused of sexual assault.
The longtime Dota 2 commentator joins a growing list of Dota 2 broadcast talent to be accused of sexual misconduct. This follows caster Grant "GranDGranT" Harris and Moonduck director Andrew "Zyori" Campbell being accused of separate instances of sexual misconduct.
The allegations come from Danish cosplayer Meruna, who Dota 2 fans may recognize as the girlfriend of pro player and caster Troels "syndereN" Nielsen.
On June 24, Meruna stated on Twitter that “someone in the Dota scene” went against her “clear and repeated ‘No’” wishes. She then stated she wouldn’t name who it was specifically, due to how old the allegations are, how she thought the individual had changed as a person, and reservations over what the larger response would be. She then criticized those within the Dota 2 community who have had either casual or dismissive attitudes towards the many women and men who have discussed their experiences with sexual abuse.
After this, Twitter user @Cofactorstrudel, who accused GranDGranT of being physically aggressive towards her and sparked discussion of his larger history of mistreating women both publicly and privately, suggested that TobiWan had been involved in a number of incidents.
On June 25, TobiWan put out a vague post on Twitter stating “I am aware that I have committed some horrible actions in the past and I wish to atone for them. If I have not reached out to you, please reach out to me and I will listen and acknowledge.”
This was followed by a post discussing previous relationships, as well as interactions with fans that were sexual in nature. None of the stories involved nonconsensual sex.
Meruna then released a follow-up post specifically naming TobiWan as the individual she discussed in her previous post. She decided to publicly identify him after a conversation with TobiWan earlier in the day left her “furious...past the point of caring.”
“Toby has admitted to doing this in a private conversation I had with him today, the first time we talked in 9 years. I initiated this conversation; he did not contact me,” Meruna said.
Meruna then suggested she was one of the individuals discussed in TobiWan’s post and stated that his telling of the story was inaccurate. syndereN added he will no longer associate with TobiWan.
Other individuals then came forward regarding TobiWan, with artist Botjira stating TobiWan “pinned [her] down in a hotel room.”
Following these allegations, Valve removed chat wheel voice lines taken from TobiWan's casts of Dota 2 tournaments from The International 10 Battle Pass.