#UnbanNairo sparks debate regarding "unfair" Twitch ban

Nairoby "Nairo" Quezada's, former Smash Ultimate player for NRG, has spent the last few months away from his community, Twitch stream, and YouTube channel, after accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor made by Zack "CaptainZack" Lauth.

Nairo would lose his sponsorship with NRG esports and be permanently banned from competing, eventually, Twitch would take down his channel, wiping any trace of Quezada from the platform.

Nairoby, who legally fought back against these allegations made by Lauth, claiming that Zack had "blackmailed and raped" him, recently announced his desire to come back to streaming.

(Image: NRG Esports)

Unlike other content creators who were outed as sexual predators in the Smash community, Nairo's channel was one of the few that was terminated, sparking a movement among the Smash community, making the hashtag #UnBanNairo a worldwide trend, calling for Twitch to lift the "unfair" ban.

With almost 200k tweets, the vast majority of the community is open to Nairo's return, not only to streaming but to competing as well. Members of OrionRank, one of Smash Ultimate's most renowned ranking systems, stated that Nairo would no longer be banned from being eligible.

On the subject of #UnBanNairo

Nairo will no longer be omitted from future OrionRank submissions, nor will he be tagged as a "banned" player on TTS sheets. I have removed his "Banned" tag from the Orionrank 2015 sheet.

— Barnard's Loop (@LoopBarnard) February 26, 2021

Major figures also spoke in favour of Quezada's return. Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, one of the biggest Smash content creators and one of the best Melee players of all time, shared a document that compiles the timeline of events regarding the Nairo-CaptainZack incident, intending to get people from Twitch to take a look at it. 

#UnBanNairo@Twitch should read and respond to this updated document that has all pertinent facts prepared regarding the situation.

We can all agree a response regarding the matter in light of this is necessary.https://t.co/vprWGqfh0I

— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) February 26, 2021

"We can all agree a response regarding the matter in light of this is necessary," Hbox added.

CaptainZack appears to have falsely accused Nairo of sexual misconduct (Image: CaptainZack)

Some people showed more caution, such as William "Leffen" Hjelte, Melee icon, and former Dragon Ball FighterZ pro. The Swede believes that is "unlikely Twitch will unban" Nairo.

Regsrdless of what side you are on the #Unbannairo movement, I find it highly unlikely Twitch will unban him.
Legally settling does not prove innocence in a legal sense, especially depending on what the lawsuit was over. For twitch that's probably not enough by a long shot-

— Leffen (@TSM_Leffen) February 26, 2021

"Legally settling does not prove innocence in a legal sense, especially depending on what the lawsuit was over. For twitch that's probably not enough by a long shot," Leffen stated.

Hjelte also wanted fans to know that as of right now, he believes Nairo's side of the story more, however, he won't jump to conclusions any time soon, pleading the community to be just as cautious.

"I believe trying to prematurely view things in a black and white matter is part of what got us here in the first place."

We'll keep you updated as the story develops.