On March 9, Cleo Hernandez posted a written statement on Twitter detailing instances of graphic sexual abuse by former partner and professional Valorant player Jay 'Sinatraa' Won. There is also an imbedded audio clip in the document that Hernandez claims is a recording of Won repeatedly denying Hernandez' requests to stop during sexual intercourse. Shortly after these allegations were discovered, Valorant developer Riot Games issued a statement through its official Valorant Champions Tour NA Twitter account stating that Riot would be suspending Sinatraa from participating in any competitive events barring an investigation into the allegations.
Hazed even added a clown emoji for emphasis, to which Sentinels' star player Jay “sinatraa” Won retorted, leading to a tweet war between the two sides. Now, it’s not quite certain if the heated. Today Sinatraa took to Twitter to respond, denying the accusations. “It is clear from Cleo’s recent post that she recalls our relationship differently than I do. What we do agree on is that it was unhealthy for the both of us.”.
Social Blade LLC is an independent entity. The public statistical data is sourced from Twitter, but the presentation is not controlled by them. Our use of the name Twitter is for context, not claiming any ownership. It remains the property of the copyright holder. Cleo “cle0h” Hernandez, Sinatraa’s former partner, posted a lengthy Google Doc on her Twitter account Tuesday, alleging multiple instances of sexual assault and emotional abuse. The twitter responses are so laughable. I’m guessing that Sinatraa is currently very focused on building his defense for VCT’s and Sentinels investigations to protect his career and not the public’s opinion. For a public statement this early it’s perfectly acceptable, Sinatraa at this time doesn’t owe any of us an explanation yet.
Following this, the Overwatch League issued a statement saying that it would refund Overwatch players for a Zarya skin that was inspired by Sinatraa's MVP performance at the Overwatch Championship in 2019. Sinatraa was initially an Overwatch eSports professional with the San Francisco Shock until he retired from Overwatch and moved to Valorant. Now, Sinatraa has come out with a statement of his own, claiming he did not abuse Hernandez and will fully cooperate with all investigations.
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Sinatraa released a statement on TwitLonger detailing his view on his relationship with Hernandez. Sinatraa claims that Hernandez 'recalls our relationship differently than I do,' and agrees that the relationship between the two of them was 'unhealthy for the both us.' Sinatraa also denies the sexual assault and abuse allegations and will be fully cooperating with investigations into the matter by providing the full audio and video clips that Hernandez references in her initial statement.
Update
Read: https://t.co/Es7fm5mbqP
you have never apologized to me ever. for anything. the least you could do is message me personally. but you can't even do that. Mac os server user manual. https://t.co/aXpXmcoiHW
— cleooo 🇲🇽 (@cIe0h) March 11, 2021Cleo Hernandez has since responded to Sinatraa's statement by saying he has 'never apologized to me ever,' and calling for him to send her a personal, private apology. She also has accused him of 'gaslighting' by insisting that her memory of events is not correct. The assault/abuse allegations from Hernandez are currently under investigation and although there is no results yet as to the veracity of these claims, it seems that eSports organizations like the Overwatch League and Sinatraa's former team are distancing themselves from him.
imagine responding to an accusation of emotional abuse with 'we remember things differently' a key phrase to gaslighting
— cleooo 🇲🇽 (@cIe0h) March 11, 2021These allegations will likely rekindle voices pushing for more awareness of sexual abuse and assault in the gaming community. Last year showed just how big sexual assault cases can get in the gaming world when several Super Smash Bros. community members were accused of sexual misconduct. The allegations from several different survivors quickly led to many well-known Super Smash Bros. players and commentators leaving the scene and admitting to wrongdoing. Whether Hernandez' statements will trigger more survivors to come forward with stories is unclear, but Sinatraa's case has certainly thrust the topic of sexual misconduct in gaming into the limelight.
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Jay 'sinatraa' Won's fans have been wondering if the popular Valorant player would be returning to the game after being accused of abusing his ex-girlfriend. Now it seems like they are finally getting some answers.
sinatraa was benched from pro team Sentinels after Cleo 'cle0h' Hernandez came forward with a TwitLonger outlining the abuse she allegedly faced while dating sinatraa. The TwitLonger included an audio recording in which Cleo could be heard saying 'no' to sinatraa multiple times as the former Overwatch League MVP pressures her to engage in sexual activities. Sentinels suspended sinatraa while the organization performed an investigation, which is still underway.
During one of fellow Valorant pro Yassine 'Subroza' Taoufik's recent streams, the first-person shooter veteran had sinatraa with him while he played a game of Valorant. This was sinatraa's first known game of Valorant since the accusations, prompting fans to debate if sinatraa is finally coming back to Riot's tactical shooter.
Is sinatraa playing Valorant again?
While sinatraa is still suspended from Sentinels and Riot's official Valorant tournaments, it appears that sinatraa is planning on streaming Valorant again. He appeared on T1 Rahul “curry” Nemani's stream recently, during which sinatraa informed viewers that he will be back to streaming 'soon.'
sinatraa didn't say exactly when he would be back, but this definitely has his fans excited. The Valorant community has even started speculating that sinatraa's name on Twitch has changed and he's been secretly playing under different accounts.
sinatraa's Sentinels teammate, Shahzeb 'ShaZaM' Khan, has also confirmed on stream that sinatraa is still playing Valorant. While sinatraa may be banned from competitive tournaments, he hasn't been booted from the game itself. So the fact that sinatraa is still playing is not too surprising. The real anticipation is seeing if sinatraa will start streaming again, if he will be cleared of the allegations made against him, and if he will be allowed back into tournaments.
Cleo confirms she filed police report against sinatraa
Even though the Sentinels has been doing an investigation into the situation with Cleo, the situation has not been confined to the esports community. Cleo shared a brief update on the situation with sinatraa on Monday after receiving a lot of backlash over the audio file she shared. In the update, Cleo states that she has filed a police report.
'And for the matter of police: I did file a report. I do have a case. It's open and ongoing. That’s all I’ll say on that,' Cleo said.
Cleo shared more screenshots of sinatraa's manipulative and abusive behavior in the update as well. This included a screenshot of him buying her Plan B after refusing to wear a condom, making her feel guilty for not wanting to engage in intercourse, and a clip of a conversation in which he seems to be speaking harshly towards her.
In the update, Cleo also shared more information on the situation with sinatraa's current girlfriend. While Cleo was staying silent, sinatraa's girlfriend had been telling everyone that Cleo was 'crazy.' Cleo wrote that it was difficult for her to move on when sinatraa's girlfriend was 'dragging [her] name through the mud.'
'Her sharing stuff like this on her platform scared me into silence because I didn’t want to have to defend myself against not only Jay and his fans but her and her fans as well,' Cleo said. 'As I said previously I know she just believes Jay which is fine, but this is one of the main reasons why I kept quiet.'
sinatraa's girlfriend releases statement defending sinatraa, condemns Cleo
sinatraa's current girlfriend Emma decided to make a statement of her own in which she is publicly defending sinatraa. She explained in a Google doc that she had decided to make an 'impromptu statement' about the entire situation.
'Cleo continues to paint herself as a saint and she has provided, yet again, nothing about how she treated him or myself. I know she isn’t the person that she’s trying to display to the world, not because of Jay, but because of the Overwatch scene,' Emma said.
Sinatraa Twitter Social Blade
She went on to write that Cleo made TikToks about her as well. She was allegedly told by friends that Cleo was tweeting about Emma from a fake Twitter account 'every day.'
Cleo Sinatraa Twitter
The situation at hand:https://t.co/z6P4TyeCnp
— emmy ♡ (@emmyuh) April 20, 2021
Sinatraa Gf Twitter
Emma shared a variety of screenshots that showed her friends allegedly being harassed by Cleo. The screenshots had names blurred out so it's unclear who exactly was interacting with whom, but Emma explained that the conversations were about Cleo treating sinatraa, Emma, and their friends poorly.
'I am still dating Jay,' Emma said. 'I have heard his side and I have never felt unsafe throughout my relationship with Jay. Jay has always put my comfort above anything, always. I hope that you guys will hear him out when he addresses it all publicly.'
Sinatraa Twitter
On Twitter, many in the Valorant community remained skeptical of Emma's side of the story. Some accused her of 'victim blaming.'
'I don't understand how ppl are saying I’m trying to victim shame. She brought up my part in her story, I apologized. She publicly stated that I apologized to turn me into a weapon against jay, then brought it up again. I just addressed it and stated that I'm still with Jay,' Emma tweeted back.
Some followers told her to ignore the haters and expressed their support for Emma as the drama continues. sinatraa still has not made any further public statements about the situation, on social media or elsewhere.