i want to clarify a few things:
we told milk very clearly from a call at the beginning that it will always be SOFTHAUNT’s stance to believe victims. if there are any allegations of this nature, we cannot and will not accept individuals onto the team without proof that the allegations are false. we have a community of people who are more vulnerable due to their disabilities and that is a part of responsible stewardship of our communities. the allegations, though more minor comparable to the CSA, of milk using the t-slur to slur trans people also caused us concern as we have many trans people in our community.
we never received any proof that the allegations were false from milk - in fact, the screenshots that milk themselves posted from the victim’s support system say that it was “not their story to share” & that they wished that they hadn’t brought it online - not that it didn’t happen. at this point, it became difficult to handle the situation because of my own triggers with CSA and i had to have my co-founder take over the rest of the conversation & ultimately denying milk’s application.
we were not able to say anything publicly because it was our understanding that milk still had access to the victim and we did not want to put the victim at risk for the sake of making a “call-out” post of all things. some things are bigger than internet drama, and this is one of them. i’m only speaking on it now because one of the several (!!) victims has come forward.
the victim has stepped forward about this. please do not harass them whatsoever. as someone who has experienced csa, it is incredibly difficult to speak up about it, and i imagine doubly so when the perpetrator is a family member with a strong online presence.
to speak on a related but separate situation:
i am not going to be so presumptuous to speak on ash’s behalf, but i want to emphasize that we had a call yesterday and resolved any issues there may have been. there was a situation with another streamer in the mix making racist comments towards Black people, and after talking & showing the VOD of the situation, it became clear that the story this individual fed ash did not align with reality. we squashed any “beef” there may have been and cleared up MANY layers of misunderstandings from both sides. i very genuinely wish ash nothing but good things. i would also ask that you have patience with her as she navigates this situation too. ash may or may not speak on the milk situation herself at her own discretion (this is a very triggering situation to manage) but from our side, the situations are very separate and we’ve resolved things with ash
my goal, and
@PerfectlyPersie’s goal, is always to keep our community safe. we have a responsibility to protect the shared space we occupy. we just cannot and will not let someone with active pedophilia and transphobia accusations onto our stream team.