Why did Twitch ban Gonzalo 'ZeRo' five years ago? Allegations of sexual misconduct explored as streaming platform lifts ban

Former Super Smash Bros player Gonzalo "ZeRo" was unbanned by Twitch on March 12, 2025, roughly five years after his indefinite suspension on July 23, 2020. At the time, allegations of sexual misconduct were made against the esports player, and Gonzalo had even admitted to having sent explicit and inappropriate messages to minors but denied knowing they were underage.

After this, his esports team, Tempo Storm, Facebook Gaming, and Twitch distanced themselves from ZeRo, leading to his retirement. However, since then, the former esports professional has taken back his apparent confession. In 2021, it was reported that he had allegedly attempted suicide and was hospitalized.

In that same year, ZeRo filed a lawsuit against his former roommate, Jisu, claiming she defamed him with some of her allegations that led to the loss of his Super Smash Bros career. His legal team claimed that Jisu's claims that he offered to fly out a minor and showed Jisu explicit ads were false.

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ZeRo appealed his Twitch ban back in 2022 after announcing that the lawsuit was over

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In a 2022 video, ZeRo claimed that the lawsuit had been settled, with Jisu deleting all of her allegations from the internet. At the time, he also appealed Twitch's ban and urged his followers to post on social media at his behest, stating:

"I will also be formally appealing my ban to Twitch. They actually indefinitely banned me from the events of 2020. They never really gave me a chance to defend myself and I feel like I should not be banned anymore. As a matter of fact, I will appreciate you guys supporting me in the matter, either supporting the cause for me to get unbanned, or if anybody knows anybody that I should talk to that I can present a well-appealed case to, I'm all ears."

It took Twitch almost three years from the time to unban ZeRo after his appeal. The content creator celebrated the occasion by posting photos of himself from the gym, where he has undergone an impressive body transformation since quitting the Smash Bros scene.

ZeRo also claimed that he would be doing Gym streams on Twitch from now on, writing:

"Here’s a recent pic and a pic with legendary Olympia champions Jay Cutler & Ronnie Coleman. I wanna do bodybuilding gym streams and show my grind to go pro in the sport let’s get it."

The streamer's post after Twitch unban (Image via @zerowondering/X)

It is unclear whether he would continue streaming on YouTube, where he has been creating content since the Twitch ban in 2020.