In the past two days, the floodgates have opened up on women in esports coming out with incidents where they were sexually harassed. One of the names in the midst of everything has been Dota 2 caster Grant ‘GranDGranT’ Harris, who was accused by two women of sexual harassment. Following the accusations, which were accepted by GranDGranT, Evil Geniuses, the organization for which he was a streamer, severed ties with him. EG put up their statement with regards to the issue on Twitter:
Effective immediately, Grant "GranDgranT" Harris has been released and is no longer a member of Evil Geniuses.
We have a zero-tolerance workplace policy, and take any accusation of harassment, or a violation of our policies handbook, seriously.
Grant’s name first came into the limelight when caster @cofactorstrudel brought up two stories of sexual harassment at the TI7 afterparty. While initially both names were kept anonymous, she eventually revealed that one of the perpetrators was in fact, GranDGrant. Grant, who was inebriated at the party, slurred at the caster and would not let go of her hand.
Fuck it. The hand-grabby person was Grant Harris.
He didn't hurt or threaten me (well, he hurt my wrist a little bit not letting go when I pulled). Just made me feel gross and slimy. https://t.co/P7W2LfobMl
After the revelation, Grant put up an apology and accepted that he had been in the wrong.
No one should ever Feel uncomfortable or slimy in any situation or at an event , What I did is inexcusable alcohol or not, And I sincerely Do apologize for the pain I put you through. Thank you for opening up to me when I messaged you, You didn't have to.
However, that wasn’t the end of it. Dota 2 coach and analyst, Anthony ‘Scantzor’ Hodgson brought up the fact that this was a pattern with GranDGrant and that the caster had gotten away with harassing women for far too long. In a thread, Scantzor laid out the example of how GranDGrant harassed and drove out the caster LlamaDownUnder out of the Dota 2 scene, to the point where she had to file a lawsuit against him.
We’ve all been far too quiet for far too long about Grandgrant. He has for years shown a consistent pattern of behaviour of harassing & degrading women. Most notable case we know about is LlamaDownUnder. She was a fast-rising Dota 2 caster. And then she wasn’t. Grant did that.
This was the tweet that added a lot of fuel to the fire and the discussion regarding Grant rose to the top on Twitter and Reddit, with many people from the community condemning the actions of the caster. With the pressure rising, Grant eventually came out with a statement where he apologized for his behavior in the past and stated that he would be leaving the Dota 2 scene for a long time, if not forever.
I just want to apologize to everyone in the Dota Scene, the things I have done in the past really are Just horrible to look back on. I have worked on myself over the last few years , and have tried to better understand people and better understand me.
ill be Leaving Dota and the Esports Scene For A long time if not permanent. I dont want to make this about me though, I want to Say, I hope the people who dont feel safe do feel safer, and I hope Dota becomes an overall better esport over the upcoming years.
Grant’s dark past is one of many being revelead. Women in esports are stepping forward with more incidents and other names are bound to come forward. At the end of this, let us hope the esports community learns from it and makes the esports world a more warm and accepting place for women.
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