GranDGranT cut by Evil Geniuses after sexual harassment claims

By Steven Rondina

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Jun 23, 2020

Reading time: 2 min

Grant “GranDGranT” Harris has been at the center of one of Dota 2’s biggest scandals to date.

The caster and content creator is no longer working with Evil Geniuses following a weekend of news during which he was accused of harassing a woman at an event. The organization announced the news on Twitter:

The decision by Evil Geniuses follows allegations of sexual harassment from a Twitter user using the handle @cofactorstrudel. On June 21, the woman stated an unnamed caster grabbing her by the wrist at the afterparty for The International 2017 while flirting with her and refused to let go. They later specifically named GranDGranT as the individual.

This led to a larger conversation of both the difficulties facing women in the scene, as well as GranDGranT’s history of inappropriate behavior.

Before becoming a prominent caster, GranDGranT made racist posts on Dota 2 forums. He has also attacked women within esports on numerous occasions, previously being banned from Twitch for harassing a Dota 2 streamer known as TheFluffiestBunny.

Dota 2 content creator and former coach Anthony “scantzor” Hodgson also discussed GranDGranT’s treatment of former Dota 2 caster LlamaDownUnder, who scantzor suggested was harassed to the point that she left the Dota 2 scene entirely and sought legal remedy against GranDGranT.

GranDGranT himself acknowledged and apologized for the allegations leveled by @cofactorstrudel. He has since stated that he will be stepping away from Dota 2 for the foreseeable future, and possibly forever.

Esports and streaming see wave of sexual misconduct allegations

The initial tweet suggesting harassment by GranDGranT followed a slew of similar stories about various individuals.

Over the weekend, allegations of sexual misconduct were leveled across the entire video game industry ranging from developers to high-profile streamers. Esports wasn’t exempt from this either, with prominent women in the Dota 2 space discussing their own histories with sexual harassment in both social and professional settings.

Alongside GranDGranT, MoonDuck director and Dota 2 caster Andrew “Zyori” Campbell was accused of attempting to pressure cosplayer Ashnichrist into having sex after meeting at Dota Summit 2.

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