Poker Livestream Removes Founder After Sexual Harassment AllegationsHustler Casino Live Drops Nick Vertucci After Several Women Come Forward |
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After allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation surfaced earlier this week against Hustler Casino Live co-owner Nick Vertucci, the company announced on Wednesday that he would no longer be part of the streamed cash game show.
The news came after Julia McBride, a regular on the show, released text messages from Vertucci in which he makes several advances on her, including unwanted solicitations for photos. The controversy surrounding the issue soon led to more players sharing their experiences, leading to the show severing ties with Vertucci.
“Effective immediately, Nick Vertucci will no longer be involved with High Stakes Poker Productions,” Hustler Casino Live co-owner Ryan Feldman noted on the company’s Twitter account. “We look forward to continuing to deliver the best high stakes poker content to the community.”
Text Messages Released
Hustler Casino Live has been one of the most popular streaming cash games with 364,000 subscribers on YouTube and 190 million total views, but the controversy quickly embroiled the company after McBride released the post on Twitter on Monday. She detailed receiving numerous unwanted advances from Vertucci and was ultimately barred from appearing on the show.
“Hey, baby-men who say I should’ve been direct with that creep in the texts I posted: I told him ‘no’ at least five times before he sent those texts,” McBride said on Twitter. “I didn’t want to get banned from his stream so I was nice about it every time. He kept asking why, like I needed to justify my position. I said because he’s married. Other times I said because I had a boyfriend. Always with a smile. The creep ended up banning me anyway.”
Poker pro Kitty Kuo later told her own story in which Vertucci unsolicited showed her a photo of his genitals while playing at the tables.
“I don’t give a shit if I can’t play at @HCLPokerShow,” Kuo tweeted. “But it did happen to me.”
Players Voice Support
Several well-known poker players came out to voice support for the women affected, including Lodge Card Club livestream owner Doug Polk.
“Using a place of power to make unwanted sexual advances on women is horrific,” Polk noted. “This isn’t just being a creepy dude. Anything less than removing him from the show entirely is completely unacceptable.”
McBride also stated that a dealer named Lauren no longer appears on the show after dealing with even worse harassment. The dealer ultimately lost her job, according to McBride.
Nikhil ‘Airball’ Arcott, arguably the most notable regular on the show currently, said he would not appear on the Hustler show until Vertucci was removed.
“I am appalled by the behavior of Nick Vertucci and deeply troubled by the additional allegations that continue to come out,” Arcott said. “His gross misconduct towards Julia, Lauren, and other women is inexcusable.”
While some applauded the decision to remove Vertucci, others criticized HCL for letting his behavior go on for so long, only responding after the allegations became public. Before starting the livestream with Feldman, Vertucci had reportedly been a police officer and ran a real estate academy.
Despite no longer being involved in the day-to-day operations, it is unclear if Vertucci will remain on with the company as a co-owner. A report from Poker Fraud Alert, however, indicated that he had agreed to sell his stake. Vertucci has yet to respond to the allegations, and his Twitter account was disabled this week.
Hustler Casino Live recently had to deal with another setback, which including a one-week ban on YouTube and some restrictions to their advertising.
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