Abuse, a book of lies and Code Red threatening me and my career

The truth about Paul 'Redeye' Chaloner & Code Red.

I had to write this today as threats/blackmail have once again been made towards my career but this time not only by Paul 'Redeye' Chaloner but also his agency Code Red, namely Luke Cotton. Many people have been brave and decided to speak up and tell their stories to me but Redeye and Code Red have stopped journalists and publications telling this story by threatening them as well, despite us having evidence. I hope that with this information, more talent and others who have been wronged by these people come forward so we can remove this disease from the esports scene, it has gone on far too long.

I have spoken to some Code Red talent who will also be leaving the agency after this and have been able to recount their own bad experiences with these individuals. They have even asked their talent to contact me and find out if and when I will be releasing it, which is incredibly strange, why would you be so worried or concerned if you had nothing to hide?

Why now is he releasing this you might think? I know this is not the same type of abuse as many other incredibly brave people are talking about and sharing but I felt now it was time for me to be brave and share a different kind of abuser, with the hope that others will come forward with even more stories that they can share on this individual. I don’t want to detract from those victims but I felt empowered by what I was reading and despite the threats to my livelihood, the only way I have to support my son, my retired father and myself, enough is enough!

Let me start by saying this is not easy for me to write and certainly very scary for me and my career because of the threats that have been made, as well as blackmail from stuff I did over 10 years ago has been used against me if I publish this. I have previously suffered with depression and anxiety for along time, I had stopped taking medicine nearly 4 years ago when my son was born and it is only since all of this, writing all of this, hearing other peoples information about what Redeye has done that my anxiety has really kicked in. Especially with both Redeye and Code Red threatening my career. No matter what though, I have people around me that support me and I know I am doing the right thing. I have to support my family, my son, I don’t have much else other than esports but I believe in the truth and I believe in Karma.

I made this tweet on 15th Feb 2020 after seeing Redeye again back at BLAST: https://twitter.com/banksesports/status/1228620758408159237?s=21

Redeye has done some incredibly horrible and disgusting things to me and others within the esports scene, abusing his position and power for many years. I made the tweet above because even after seeing him again back then, I felt nervous, uncomfortable and physically sick. This is a man who nearly drove me to suicide many years ago.

Now esports community, you know me over the last couple of years for keeping it real, being completely honest and showing you the real me and what esports has done.

The important part of this is that finally, I have no choice but to put this out myself about Paul 'Redeye' Chaloner, a disease to the esports scene. Like many I had always respected and idolised Redeye. I have photos back from 2005/6 where he was commentating my games, he was meant to be this legendary esports figure, always doing what is right...sadly that is not the case.

On the 25/6/2020, I made this tweet: https://twitter.com/BanKsEsports/status/1276197092667654144?s=20 - Code Red then contacted me and started threatening me about unacceptable comments I made back in 2007/8 when I was 18, in a world that is very different to my own and something that both me and Luke Cotton from Code Red had spoke about, dealt with and put behind us. As they found out I was trying to get journalists to look into this story, they threatened me, tried to corner and trap me in a call with Redeye, Luke Cotton and Ben Woodward, all of whom own Code Red and have been friendly in many businesses for years. All of my attempts to get journalists involved failed because of the power Redeye and Code Red has, they literally were able to warn and scare journalists from touching this story. I can provide all the evidence of these screenshots but I did not want to detract away from the real facts on Redeye. So far many prominent esports figures, talent, staff and journalists have seen these screenshots to back up everything I am showing here today.

There is also a closed court case on Redeye which can be found here: http://causelist.org/d/2f3nhm7visrz6/

Many years ago, around 2014/15, Gfinity came along and I was lucky enough to be picked for all of their early CS:GO with HenryG, way before any of us knew where this industry was going. At some point Gfinity hired Redeye after he had left ESL and he first saw me commentating a grand final with Semmler, due to Anders not being around. This is the part where the “Would you look at that” meme came around. This very bad commentary only took place because my blood sugars went incredibly low. I am a type 1 diabetic, this was my first grand final cast with tier 1 teams, my blood sugars dropped, members of the Gfinity team had to get me full sugar coke and sweets to eat during the cast and Semmler kindly helped me and carried me through the game.

So at this point I had a contract with Gfinity to be their commentator for all CS:GO events for the year and host at all of their SC2 events of the year. When Redeye came on board I got a phone call from him where he told me I wasn’t good enough for either of these roles and he would be moving me. I was certainly not happy with this and mentioned about my contract and said why this is unfair. I was then told that I must listen to what he said otherwise he will make sure I never work in the industry again. That is when I first dealt with the bad side of Redeye.

A man I looked up to was threatening to destroy the career I worked so hard for because I wouldn’t do what he wanted. Like a wimp, I rolled over and took it. It makes me feel awful even now just thinking about it. After attending the Gfinity events and doing my role as interviewer, I remember getting anxiety every time I saw Redeye, he refused to talk to me, didn’t offer any support, kept me out of meetings and things that were going on, even though it included the other talent. It got so bad with my anxiety and depression that was caused by Redeye that I would sweat profusely, making any clothing I had turn a different colour and then I would be mocked by Redeye and other talent, while simply trying to do my job under stressful conditions, the difference was, Redeye knew about the reasons for this as he was my boss and employer at the time.

The other talent I was far too scared to talk about, this was at the height of my depression and anxiety. I was fearful to talk about any of it because of the power Redeye had and how he claimed he would end my career. SirScoots himself even realised after I started to talk about my depression why this was and apologised publicly when I wanted to use my experience with depression to help others, I want to be a positive force in the community, I want to do my best to help others. (I have proof from the British doctors that what Redeye had done to me was making me ill, it was not a safe environment for me to work in anymore.).

It isn’t only because I love esports so much that I was worried about my career, I come from a low income background, from the “hood” so to speak, this was my way out and I was able to do it...without this career I don’t know what I would be doing or if I would even be alive right now.

So some people may think what Redeye did to me isn’t so bad, isn’t worth all of this. It effected me so much that on multiple occasions I tried to kill myself, because I worried so much about what would happen if he did run me out of the industry and again, today, over 5 years later he is trying to do this again.

Back to when I made the tweet on 15th Feb 2020: https://twitter.com/banksesports/status/1228620758408159237?s=21. It gained a lot of traction on Twitter but many prominent people from the esports community came forward and were able to guess who I was talking about. I found this very weird...maybe I am not the only one he had done this to?

Redeye punching another member of staff at Gfinity + more:

I was contacted by someone at Gfinity, again as this person is incredibly worried about what Redeye can do to him, they do not want their name revealed. They reached out to tell me about their experiences with Redeye and I have shown the original to a few trustworthy people within the scene who will back this up as a real email.

Another person reached out to me who was working at Gfinity at the time who understood what actually happened outside of the press releases:

From here you can see not long after the date in the email that Redeye left Gfinity and these following statements were made: https://paulchaloner.tumblr.com/post/136967738445/2016-moving-on

I was also given details from other Gfinity staff members about the power Redeye had within the company and how he abused it. I can’t confirm any of this but multiple talent working the Gfinity events also mentioned his inappropriate conversations and sexual innuendos with female staff members and the makeup artists they were using during this time. These people are yet to give me permission to post the screenshots but once I can and if they do I will, so these should be taken lightly for now. Though later on in this document you will see evidence of this still going on today.

These next set of screenshots also come from someone that worked at Gfinity at the time, talking about the assault. The person who was assaulted no longer works within esports because of this and has removed themselves from the industry.

Many people came forward with other messages and information about Redeye. This includes verbal abuse, holding other talent back, lies about other talent and abuse of power. Screenshots below:

As recent as the end of 2019 when he was working a CS:GO event he was abusing members of PGL staff which has resulted in him and code red not being worked with:

James ‘2GD’ Harding also publicly tweeted me this:

There is another story which is more just funny and shows how strange he really is. This was told to me but multiple talent, producers and staff from different games. During the TI where they had the amazing puppets made, in some narcissistic way Redeye at the after party was telling people that he was the one who came up with the idea and how smart and amazing Valve thinks he is. Funny enough he decided to say this to a woman, I guess in a way to impress her but it turned out to be the wife of the person who made the puppets and well that lie didn’t work out for him either.

I have put all of this together, sent it to multiple journalists and had it blocked at every step of the way. In the last week I have had multiple people tell me Redeye is trying to stop me from being hired, reaching out to tournament organisers and telling them not to use me. I now can’t sit and wait on this any longer, I must act to show everyone within the scene what he is and what he has done and continues to do. This is NOT what esports is about.

If anyone has other information about Redeye and also wants to come forward, publicly or anonymously then you can message me here: https://twitter.com/BanKsEsports - My DMs are open.

I am now about to work an event, I have worked 40 days of CS:GO broadcast in a row now, I pour my heart and soul into what I love and what I do but with all of these threats that Redeye and code red are making to me I can’t think straight, I have been struggling to sleep (I finally managed 8 hours last night thanks to some Melatonin) and my girlfriend is supporting me through all of this, I was crying at certain parts trying to put this together because I know Redeye will do his best to end my career but this is something that should be shown, he has so many people protecting him, which ultimately hurts others. Just look at how he has cornered the scene with this book of his, he shouldn’t even be in a position to do this. I love esports and I love our amazing community but if you don’t stand for the truth and what is right, do you really stand for anything?

Now you could say that I could let this go and with my personal situation I felt like I could but when it is still happening and this person has clearly not changed then something needs to happen.

So to finish this very difficult document, due to my attempt to show the truth about Redeye, Luke Cotton from Code Red has threatened and blackmailed me, and plans to use our past against me over things I have said over 10 years ago, the wording he used seems as if he wants to use the “MeToo” movement and the current climate as a way of protecting Redeye and the horrible things he has done and continues to do. These things are things we have we both discussed at length and moved past as individuals. That doesn’t condone my words, actions or intent at the time but I was a different person in a different place then and so was he. I have had friends, family and co-workers in my life who have explained and worked with me on these issues to understand why such language in the gaming scene is toxic and as such I became a better person and ally to that community. You can see that in my constant posts of positivity, pushing for helping and inspiring others and doing whatever I can to make this scene great. I have grown from this and learnt from my friends on how to become a better person and as such have spoken to Luke on this matter at length, multiple times in person to apologise and we have both moved forward not just to part ways on agreeable terms but on a friendship level, so i thought. We have done events and partied at after parties together and I never thought he would act like this just to protect someone he knows has done wrong, just to save his company. The company could be saved and be fine if they just did what they did to TobiWan but to Redeye, clearly Redeye is allowed to do these kind of things in their eyes.

I completely understand and accept that my own past behaviour is and was unacceptable. I have spoke about much of this in length and even put the video out about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPPb4zPBhgM. However with that said, I am not that same person I was 10 years ago and I was shown that I was wrong and I needed to change by friends and family and I did. The reason why I am writing this is to show that Redeye knows his behaviour, has been called out on it by many people and he continues his unacceptable behaviour, which still goes on today and hasn’t changed. If Redeye was willing to change and work with the community to be better and accept his behavioural issues I would be happy to work with him on this but he has not in the past and his actions to date shows he currently isn’t willing to do so.

As an industry we can see people grow and learn, the community itself is great in general but these things need to be shown and people in power like Redeye need to be held responsible, people like Redeye should uplift and help others like he “shows” on his social media but in reality his actions hurt people and push them down.

No matter what I felt this needed to be said, Redeye and Code Red have made attempts to damage my career, my life and now taking me back to a dark place I don’t ever want to visit again. I won’t allow these type of people to ruin my life and put me into depression or let me have thoughts of suicide again. I have forever been open with the community and kept it real, I won’t ever stop doing that. I have many people within the industry supporting me, as well as my family and girlfriend, however you take the information that you have read today, I hope that other people will see this, come forward with their own information and show Redeye for what he really is. I will be taking some much needed time off work to deal with the trauma they have caused me and focusing on what is most important to me.