A fighting game competitor who was once accused of sexual assault and banned from several tournaments appears to have returned to play over the weekend.
Editor’s note: This piece contains references to physical assault and rape. If these are sensitive topics for you, hit the back button now. — David.
In an Orlando, Florida competition that took place between March 1-3, fighting game competitor Andre “iOverthk” Howard placed in the top 8 in a Street Fighter 6 tournament. On March 3, Howard tweeted: “Gone from the FGC for 6 years and Come back and get a top 8 placing in a major. Gang gang lol.” Many replied, asking Howard where they had been for the last six years and why they had been “gone” from the FGC, with some sharing a 2018 Kotaku story detailing the accusations levied against them (no charges were filed).
The FGC competitor, who now goes by the name iOverthk (they used to compete as OmGiTzAndre), did not reply to the social media comments.
The competition Howard took part in this past weekend was TNS 9, a FGC tourney featuring games like Mortal Kombat and Smash Bros. According to results on Start.GG, Howard competed in Tekken 8, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter 6 events. They reached 7th in the SF6 event, tweeting about it and showing a picture of the TNS medal they received.
In 2018, Howard was banned from several fighting game competitions after an episode of The On Blast Show podcast aired in which their peer Joey “Joey D” D’Alessandro accused Howard of raping his girlfriend. In that same episode, co-host Melanie “MoxXiePeachez” Shaw claimed Howard assaulted the woman at the 2015 Northeast Championship, an event that, like TNS, featured multiple fighting game competitions. Howard denied the allegations in a now-deleted YouTube video. Still, some of the biggest fighting game organizations in the world banned them from their tournaments, including Combo Breaker, Community Effort Orlando, Final Round, and Big E Gaming.
Now, it appears that Howard is back on the competitive FG scene, six years after the accusations against them were first made. Kotaku has contacted Howard and TNS for comment.
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