Tribe Gaming’s director of esports, Matt “Nite Light” Jones has been accused of rape by former Nova Esports employee and ex-girlfriend, Carolyn Wang. Nite Light has denied the allegations.
In a TwitLonger posted last night, Wang shared her experiences of being in a relationship with Nite Light. She said the two started dating in 2017. At that time, Wang was 17 years old while Nite Light was 21. The latter was an esports manager for Nova Esports then.
She said that Nite Light recruited her as a social media manager for Nova Esports in October 2017 where she volunteered until April 2018. She later returned to Nova in November the same year and worked for the org through July 2019. “Matthew was my direct superior at Nova Esports for the entire time that I worked/volunteered there, and I reported directly to him probably 95 percent of the time,” Wang wrote.
Wang accused Nite Light of raping her on a cruise vacation in the Caribbean during the summer of 2018. She said that the incident happened when the two were preparing to have dinner with Nite Light’s family. According to Wang, Night Light initiated sex and performed intercourse with her without consent.
“I cannot describe how I felt during this adequately with words,” Wang wrote. “My head was swimming with emotions, mostly shame and hurt, but also dissociating from what my senses were feeling.”
Nite Light posted a TwitLonger later saying that Wang’s accusations against him are “without merit or evidence.”
In the post, Nite Light said that the two of them did go on a cruise vacation in the Caribbean where they shared a room as a couple. According to him, there was “never any suggestion of discomfort in the slightest” on the night in question.
“This was two consenting adults, in a long term relationship, on vacation together, sharing a room, and engaging in consensual intimacy,” Nite Light wrote.
Nite Light further added that he doesn’t have “concrete messages or screenshots” proving the “normalcy” of that night even after looking at messages from Wang since last year. Nite Light said that every message before and after the cruise was “entirely normal” with no mention of any discomfort during that night.
Nite Light said that he became aware of Wang making a public statement last week and has made his employer, Tribe Gaming, informed of all the details. According to him, Tribe has initiated an “independent third party investigation” which he has “complied with fully” and hopes to get his name cleared.
