YouTube star Joe “Angry Joe” Vargas is at the center of a story that supposedly took place at PAX East 2018. A Twitch streamer accuses him of behaving inappropriately. The YouTube star denies the allegations. He says the woman is lying. He has engaged his lawyers.
What’s happening in gaming right now: Somehow, the release of “The Last of Us 2” has triggered a wave of allegations against men in the gaming industry. The “MeToo” movement seems to have arrived in gaming, albeit somewhat belatedly.
It started when a streamer accused Destiny 2 streamer “SayNoToRage” on June 20 of having inappropriately touched her. Following that, other female streamers shared their experiences with “SayNoToRage” at gaming events. He admitted to having behaved poorly in the past and is working on his issues.
After this incident, many other women from the gaming industry came forward in the hours and days that followed, sharing their experiences with men who exploit their positions to make sexual advances, such as key MMORPG manager Omeed Dariani. He allegedly advised a young woman in 2014 to sleep her way to the top.
These are the allegations against Angry Joe: The streamer WookieMonster has about 5000 followers on Twitch and plays games like SMITE, SWTOR, or Animal Crossing.
She reported in a long post about PAX East 2018 (via medium).
There, she was with her boyfriend and accidentally met the YouTuber Angry Joe at a Twitch party. The YouTube star invited her to a YouTube dinner.
What ensued was a several-hour gathering in which Angry Joe apparently thought they were on a date while she allegedly just wanted to return to her boyfriend but didn’t know how to get out of the situation.
Angry Joe is said to have done a variety of things that ultimately aimed to isolate her from her boyfriend and get her into bed. He allegedly:
- briefly took her smartphone away under a pretext
- pushed her against a wall
- offered to shower with her
- tried to impress her and get her drunk
In the end, Angry Joe allegedly angrily accused her of “only using him to gain contacts – just like every girl.”
“I am a decent person”
This is what Angry Joe says about the allegations: The YouTube star (3.24 million subscribers) denies the allegations. He states that these are false accusations. He plans to take action with his lawyers and will soon publish a long statement.
According to Angry Joe, he took her to dinner and a public party, but all her assumptions about his intentions are fabricated. Also, the actions he is accused of did not happen as she describes. Her depiction of the events makes it seem to him as if she was reading a fictional novel. He claims he also has witnesses for what really happened. She was not alone with him, but with him and a group.
Angry Joe says she accuses him of being some kind of choleric womanizer just because his name is “Angry Joe”.
The two direct messages that WookieMonster published are also the only ones he sent her. Outside of that event, he had never contacted her, she never tried to resolve things with him, and now comes on Twitter at 2 AM with such claims.
According to Angry Joe, the woman could have left at any time, but she chose to continue hanging out with him and his friends while ignoring her boyfriend. That all doesn’t make sense.
Angry Joe says: He is a decent person. What the woman says and her accusations about what specifically happened are lies. He is appalled that he suddenly ends up on such a list of “predators.”
He takes this matter very seriously and will take action against it.
The incident involving Angry Joe is currently being hotly debated on social media. While Angry Joe categorically denies the allegations and receives strong support from his fans, other men have admitted to the allegations in recent days. For example, Omeed Dariani has stepped down from his job as CEO of a streaming agency:
MMORPG manager allegedly advised young woman to sleep her way to the top
