ZeRo calls allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming "lies and big exaggerations"

Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios, former Smash pro and streamer, has rebutted the allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming made by prominent community members in July 2020, adding that he'll be returning to full-time content creation on 17th November.

The document shared by Jisu over 16 months ago accused ZeRo of being inappropriate with minors and painted a gruesome image a gruesome image of what is colloquially known as "the Sky House," a house owned by content creator Sky Williams that hosted up-and-coming Smash players looking to save on travel accommodations while competing. 

ZeRo mentioned said document contained a "very large amount of lies, falsehoods, big exaggerations," adding that "it's nothing more than a piece to assassinate my character."

Back in 2020, the former Smash pro was also accused by two people of soliciting nude photographs from a 14-year-old girl online back when he was 19. 

At the time, the Chilean issued a statement confirming these allegations to be true, however, he has taken a step back reframing said confession as a "suicide note." 

"Simply put, this document is a suicide letter that I wrote during a tremendous mental breakdown. I had fully planned to take my life right after posting that document because I pretty much lost all faith in that scenario," ZeRo expressed.

In March 2021, eight months since the initial allegations that saw ZeRo banned from Twitch and lose his sponsorship with Tempo Storm, he was hospitalised for attempting to take his own life. 

"If you've been watching my content for years now it should be not surprised that I'd been rather open about my mental struggles. This is not my first fight with suicide and for a long time I have been really struggling with that line."

The 27-year-old added that he's taken the case to court, retaining legal counsel since the allegations began and filing a lawsuit against "some of the involved parties.

"I need to make it very clear to everybody watching this video -- I have never received explicit videos from any underage individual, I have never sent explicit images to any underage individual, I have never made travel arrangements with ulterior motives with any underage individual, I have never been touched or touched in any shape or form any underage individual, and I have never had conversations with only intentions to groom an underage individual."

Finally, ZeRo confirmed that he will be no longer address these allegations publicly and that his legal team will be handling stuff privately in case any further comments surface.

As we've mentioned, ZeRo will return to content creation on 17th November, maintaining his usual mix of Smash and variety content. Whether the Smash community accepts him back or not, the Chilean stated he's got "the right to utilise" platform to make the content he wants to make. "I feel I can do that while staying in my lane and living my life."

You can watch ZeRo's full video response down below. We'll keep you updated as the story develops.

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Featured image courtesy of ZeRo.