A prominent Super Smash Bros. tournament organizer has stepped down from this month’s Apex 2015 tournament in the wake of sexual harassment allegations. Jonathan “Alex Strife” Lugo is no longer involved with the upcoming tournament, Apex confirmed in a statement on the SmashBoards.
“At this time, Alex Strife will be stepping down from his duties at Apex. We will be moving forward with Apex 2015,” the company said. “As it stands Apex 2015 is the largest Smash Brothers tournament ever and the Apex staff hopes to bring you the best experience we can.”
Apex, now in its sixth year, has major plans for this year’s event–it recently announced a partnership with Nintendo of America for the tournament. The event will be held January 30-February 1 in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The sexual harassment allegations against Lugo, which include claims that Lugo sent dirty messages to women as young as 14, surfaced over the weekend, and are summed up in this Kotaku post.
Lugo could not be reached for comment. However, Apex’s social media coordination told Kotaku that the decision for Lugo to leave Apex was mutual.
“Team Apex and Alex Strife made a mutual decision that he will step down from Apex,” the representative said. “No Apex members were aware of any of these allegations that became public. Alex has made no comment. That’s all we can say at this point, thanks.”
GameSpot has contacted Nintendo of America for comment regarding whether the allegations of misconduct will affect the company’s involvement with the event.
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