Former Super Smash Bros. player Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios is back online after attempting to take his own life in March of 2021. Barrios shared an image on Instagram saying that he’s “sorry for concerning everyone, I feel really guilty and bad about it.”
“Thank you everyone for the beautiful messages and birthday wishes,” Barrios wrote on Instagram after he was seen celebrating turning 26. “Life has been insane. I’m posting something this week to update you guys.”
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On the evening of March 23, the Orlando County Sheriff’s Department had responded to a call about Barrios’ suicide attempt. He was immediately transported to the hospital. In response, Gonzalez’s former partner, Vanessa, posted a Tweet about the attempt.
“On 3/23 Gonzalo attempted suicide. After being treated in the hospital, he was sent in for further care,” Vanessa said in a tweet that has since been deleted. “Humans are more than their mistakes, especially when they’ve put out more good into this world. I’ll always love u even if we’re not together & I’ll pray that u see the light.”
Barrios had removed himself from the Super Smash Bros. community after a number of allegations of inappropriate behavior surfaced. These allegations included sending sexually suggestive messages to two minors. Furthermore, an anonymous user who went by the name Katie released a Twitlonger accusing Barrios of manipulating them when they were 14-years-old.
Shortly after, Tempo Storm severed ties with him. Other organizations with which Barrios was associated did the same. Consequently, Barrios ceased creating content for his Twitch stream and YouTube channel in the summer of 2020.
“I just want this discussion to stop,” Barrios said in a Twitlonger posted on July 4, where he admitted the allegations were true. “I’m not a good person, and it doesn’t matter how terrible my life was, I did terrible things and that’s the end of it. I don’t deserve for people to defend me.”
Barrios admitted to sending sexually explicit messages to multiple underaged women in the statement. In addition, he stated he doesn’t want forgiveness from his fans or peers.
“I won’t forgive myself either,” he said.
Barrios is one of the most successful Super Smash Bros. 4 players of all time; considered to be the best in the game with a number of prominent tournament victories. He retired from competing after the allegations came to light.
“As someone who has known ZeRo for a long time, I genuinely hope that he can find forgiveness for himself and that there are those out there who are willing to give him a chance,” said Melee coach and longtime friend of ZeRo, Luis “Crunch” Rosias in a post on Reddit. “Maybe not necessarily in smash, but in life. ”
