What were the grooming allegations against Dream? Streamer throws light on older accusations on stream

Minecraft streamer Clay, also known as "Dream," has reopened conversations surrounding the grooming accusations that were raised against him in October 2022. He addressed the old allegations on his social media and Twitch stream, clarifying that he was unaware of the purported victim's age when the events occurred (2020).

On October 14, 2022, an X (formerly Twitter) account under the handle @burner39413705 shared screenshots of text messages exchanged between Clay and Anastasia (a former fan and the alleged victim). After the leak, Anastasia herself went on her social media and revealed that she was only 17 when the streamer sent her flirtatious messages.

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What were the allegations against Dream? Exploring the details

In a series of Twitter posts that have since been deleted, the burner account accused Clay of engaging in flirtatious communication through iMessage and Snapchat. The posts claimed that Clay made suggestive remarks, including inviting the then-minor Anastasia to his "bedroom" or "kitchen."

Anastasia herself stepped forward and addressed the situation, expressing that she felt exploited, particularly considering the power dynamics at play between her and a prominent creator like Dream.

Anastasia also claimed that she had already revealed to the streamer that she was still a teenager when they started talking (2020). Here's a screenshot of her now-deleted X post:

Anastasia revealed that she said that she was under 18 (Image via X/@oxeclean)

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What did Dream say?

The streamer issued two sets of responses–one back in October 2022, when the controversy initially unfolded, and another more recent response made earlier today (November 11).

Back in 2022, Clay posted a detailed account of his side of things through a Twit-longer post. He wrote that, as per the alleged victim's bio, he had reason to believe that she was an adult. He wrote:

"In these screenshots, them being 18 years old is mentioned in their bio, and I also very clearly asked them for their age. I did not act inappropriately with this person, and any attempt to equate these messages to grooming is not only disgusting but is insulting to victims who actually experienced grooming and still have trauma as a result."

This was further reiterated earlier today through his Twitch stream:

"People say, 'Why would you add a minor on Snapchat?' First of all, I didn't know she was a minor because she had 'Graduating high school in her bio on Instagram,' and on top of that, it doesn't matter if she was a minor. Like, Snapchat is a messaging platform."

(Timestamp: 03:33:07)

This was again echoed through his X post:

"On top of that, she had something in her bio insinuating that she was an adult, so I had no reason to even think about her age. Nothing inappropriate happened so I wasn’t looking into whether she was 17.9, 18, or 30."

The YouTuber claims that he did not know that she was a minor (Image via X/@Dreamwastaken)

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The re-emergence of the controversy, several months later, has once again divided the online community. The streamer has since faced a multitude of criticisms, leading to the hashtag #dropdream trending on X.