Two months ago, top Canadian Super Smash Bros Player Vikram “Nightmare” Singh was accused of having an illegal sexual relationship with a minor in a public statement made by the Super Smash Bros. Harassment Task Force. Nightmare quickly tweeted out a response from his lawyers denying the specific allegations leveled by the committee. He has since made his Twitter private and removed the statement from public view, but most of the statement can be found in this article reporting on the events shortly after they occurred.
According to Nightmare’s solicitors, the Marth main “was not convicted of the grooming of a minor or sexual assault.”
Many members of the Smash community were quick to point out the statement’s suspiciously ambiguous language, which was tailored to deny specific charges without commenting on whether or not Nightmare had actually been involved in a sexual relationship with a minor.
Nightmare is a top Canadian Melee player who has long been notorious for his flashy playstyle. He is known within his local scene as the “6God,” a reference to his skill and his hometown of Toronto (a region commonly known as “the Six”). Over the last few months, he has continued to compete in Canadian tournaments, threatening legal action against any tournament organizers who try to block him from entering.
At DreamHack Montreal, he competed under the tag “N,” finishing in 13th place. As a compromise, DreamHack Montreal tournament organizer Alex Jebailey forbade the Ontario Marth main from playing any matches on the tournament’s livestream.
Nightmare still appears to enjoy considerable support within his home region, and is slated to participate (as “N”) in a crew battle streamed by prominent Canadian Smash organization Even Matchup Gaming at this weekend’s Canada Cup. (Update: After this article was published, EMG announced via Twitter that they would be placing an indefinite ban on Nightmare at all of their events per the Harassment Task Force’s Code of Conduct.)
At DreamHack Montreal, top Canadian players such as Ryan “Ryan Ford” Ford and William “Trulliam” Truong showed their support for Nightmare by using in-game tags including “ALL LIES” and “FREE 6G0D” during their streamed matches.
Nightmare is slated to compete in an invitational event called “The Provincial” this weekend.
Last night, Trulliam discussed Nightmare’s sexual assault allegations on his Twitch stream in order to voice support for his fellow top competitor. Nightmare and Trulliam are both members of an infamously rowdy Ontario crew known as the “Hyenas.”
In his defense of his crewmate, Trulliam appeared to reveal additional information that had not been disclosed in Nightmare’s solicitors’ statement.
“So what happened, he fucked a 15-year-old, they had consensual sex, yes, that’s what happened,” said Trulliam. “Okay, that’s the story. Is it not good? It is against the law, yes, and that’s what sexual interference was.”
According to Trulliam, Nightmare’s actions were not banworthy, since his crime was a first offense and because he expressed remorse after his relationship with the aforementioned 15-year-old came to an end. But in his statement, he appears to confirm that Nightmare was convicted of “sexual interference.”
Sexual interference is a crime unique to Canadian law. An offender is defined as a “person who, for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of 16 years.” According to the official site of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, it is a crime that automatically puts a convicted individual on Canada’s National Sex Offender Registry.
If the math checks out, Nightmare was at least 23 years old when he committed the act that led to this charge; his partner would have been 15 years old or younger.
Unfortunately, Trulliam was banned from Twitch shortly after his livestream concluded, and all videos of his statement outside of the recording above have been deleted or removed from public view. However, multiple individuals who were watching the stream at the time have confirmed that he made similar statements confirming Nightmare’s actions throughout the stream.
UPDATE:
Shortly after this article was published, Trulliam posted a YouTube video describing his full perspective on the situation. In the video, Trulliam confirmed that Nightmare was convicted of sexual interference with a minor after having an extended sexual and romantic relationship with a 15-year-old girl. He defended his crewmate by pointing out that Nightmare hadn’t been convicted of a more severe crime, then announced his potential retirement from Melee.
Two hours later, Even Matchup Gaming announced via Twitter that Nightmare would “be indefinitely disallowed from participating in tournaments affiliated with or organized by” the organization, per the unified Code of Conduct created by the Harassment Task Force.
Here’s a full timeline of the events surrounding Nightmare’s sexual misconduct allegations:
July 12, 2018: Josh “Roboticphish” Kassel writes a public post on the behalf of the Harassment Task Force detailing legal threats the task force had received from an unnamed player accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor.
July 16, 2018: Nightmare tweets out a statement from his lawyers identifying himself as the accused party and denying the specific charges leveled by the Harassment Task Force.
July 2018–present: Nightmare continues to compete in local tournaments in Ontario.
September 7–9, 2018: Nightmare competes at DreamHack Montreal, but is prevented from participating in any streamed matches.
September 11, 2018: Harassment Task Force publishes a full Code of Conduct outlining proper courses of action for the investigation and punishment of sexual misconduct, violence, and harassment within the Smash scene.
September 24, 2018: On his Twitch stream, Trulliam appears to confirm that Nightmare was charged with sexual interference after having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
September 25, 2018: This article is published.
September 25, 2018: Trulliam releases a video explaining his take on the situation.
September 25, 2018: Even Matchup Gaming indefinitely bans Nightmare from competing at any of their events, per the Code of Conduct.
September 26, 2018: Smash Sisters co-founder Emily “EmilyWaves” Sun posts the victim’s official Victim Impact Statement on Twitter.
