Girl Filmed "Consent Video" After "Doing The Whole Hockey Team" Leads To SA Case Acquitted

35:44Whatever that means. He says the overall mood was playful, like foreplay. Light spanking or patting, nothing abusive by any means. Dylan Dubé also gives a statement to the Hockey Canada investigation, and he says that he was very drunk. He does recall some parts of it, like the performance of the oral sex, but it was very brief. He wasn't into it. she just kept begging more people to man up if you will and do it with her at one point he does recall that he was holding a golf club and remember em had said that everyone was saying how many golf balls do you think we can put inside or like if she can take the whole club but all the guys are like nobody said anything like that dylan dubay is like i was holding a golf club because they had a golf tournament the very next day so a lot of the guys brought their golf clubs and he said he was holding a golf club just messing around and she at one point says are you going to fuck me or play golf he didn't want to have intimate relations with her quote i was off put i didn't want to have sex with her in front of people so i slapped her on the bum once or twice after she said that he's arguing that him smacking her on the butt was a playful flirtatious like she's like are you gonna do me and he's like i'm not gonna do you smack smack em testifies that's not at all what happened she testified it was while she was performing oral on the floor on these people like she it was not there was no entertaining factor like it was not funny like it was not a joke it was not flirtatious it was not playful dylan dubay states to the authorities that he believed em wanted to be there more than any of the other guys wanted to be there she was allegedly saying things like this is embarrassing that you guys have a naked girl in front of you and a bunch of guys in the room and nobody's gonna do anything?

37:31Like what's happening? They said that she was getting a little frustrated saying like well then I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna put my clothes on if nobody's gonna do anything. Things like that. A lot of the guys testified that it appeared that she was taking it personally as in she's not hot enough so none of the guys are doing anything with her. And after he smacks her he says that he doesn't really have any other interactions with her. He does see Alex Formington go to the bathroom with her but he claims like a lot of the other players she was the one guiding him in there Alex Formington's defense attorney does question her on the stand and I think this is one of the frustrating things when anybody else doesn't really remember or recall the exact sequence of events in the same order from 2018 during the initial investigation later in 2022 there's an opened reopened investigation and then now in 2025 on the stand if they don't recall the exact sequence of events in the same exact order across seven years, they're not really questioned.

38:28However, when Em does, it seems like she's just trying to be very honest. I will say that she has a very passive tone in a lot of the ways that she testifies. I mean, I would say that it's not dissimilar to myself. She would respond in ways like, I don't recall it happening like that, but I guess it could be possible. Because she's like, I mean, I guess if you're telling me that could have happened, I guess, but I don't remember it happening like that. But also, like, I was so drunk, and I'm telling you that's why I couldn't consent, because I was so drunk. And because M states that she can't recall much of anything from that bathroom with Alex Formington from being intoxicated, Alex's defense attorneys are like, well, if you don't remember, let me tell you what happened.

39:10Alex's attorney suggests during the cross that inside the bathroom, she was touching Alex everywhere, saying that she would help him get excited, pulling his pants down, saying that he doesn't have to wear protection because she's on birth control and apologizing that she has sunburns on her chest from sunbathing nude. Em is asked about all of that, to which she responds on the stand that yes, she was on birth control at the time and she did sunbathe in her backyard, but again, she doesn't recall saying any of that. But quote, I have no memory of any conversation with him. But because she doesn't recall and because the defense attorney presents it in such a way, a lot of people are led to believe, okay, maybe this is true.

39:51I don't know. What I will say is not Alex. Alex Formington's attorneys are the ones that. I don't want to say are the reason. But are directly related to why both the jurors were dismissed. So they seem very aggressive. They seem like very, very aggressive defense attorneys. And then Carter Hart's defense attorney. She actually represents a lot of high profile accused of SA. she represented a musician previously and the victim for that musician there was a guilty verdict there she said Megan this is the attorney's name is on the same level as her abuser she said in fact when she has nightmares now about being essayed in that hotel room by this musician she has more nightmares about the trial wow and she says that defense attorney to her is on the same level as the abuser she doesn't write her abuser's name she doesn't speak the abuser's name out loud because it brings so much trauma she can't say the defense attorney's name she said it's one thing to do your job and she's saying it's crazy because like i also don't want to bring down a female attorney of all people right and i think it's this is someone has to be a defense attorney everyone has the right to a fair trial she gets it she gets it but she says this specific attorney it's like she was getting joy from slut shaming her in any way possible like that was the vibe.

41:12Like just straight up cruelly laughing at her. And this is Carter Hart's defense attorney. Carter Hart does testify during the trial. He's the only player. He's the goaltender. And he states, you know, I was pretty excited. I'm 19 years old. There's a naked girl in the room that was doing things willingly. I mean, it was something that I'd never seen before. In fact, out of everyone in the group chat, he's the one that responded very quickly. I'm in to the threesome message. So he gets to the hotel room and he sees a girl naked on the bed sheet on the floor and she seemed to be enjoying herself.

41:45He says that he took off his pants and she was helping him, he claims. And he had engaged in oral for 30, 60 seconds. He said that he wasn't able to fully maintain the state down there because he was feeling very uncomfortable. I mean, like all of his teammates are there. They're watching. The whole situation was just weird. So he stopped it by backing away. And then that's when she starts complaining like, what's wrong with you guys? There's like a naked girl in the room with you guys. Carter ends up texting another player at 3 27 AM. His name is Dante. He says, get to 209. So he's telling another player, come to this room.

42:24And he's asked during the trial, why did you text another player who's not in the room? Get to 209. He says, well, at that point, she's like begging for intimate relations. And Carter knew that Dante didn't have a girlfriend. So maybe he thought he was interested. I'm just trying to help her fulfill her wish, you know, basically. Carter says there's no way anything strange was going in in that room. If he even got the inkling that it was non-consensual or something weird was happening, I can't see why I would have stayed in that room, is what he says. I would have said, don't do that or stop, or I would have just left.

42:59You have to remember, a lot of ice hockey fans are really upset with this case. And it's not just because this case lives in a vacuum. I think especially a lot of Canadian netizens, they're going online and saying, see, that's a problem. I don't believe a single one of these, they use other terms. I don't believe a single one of these fuckers, the accused, because if you've ever been to an ice hockey game, that is anywhere on the junior league or like the pro level you know how these players are acting right like there's no way you can tell me that this did not happen right right right like this is the culture of ice hockey like they do not respect women they think every girl is a quote unquote puck bunny it's basically like a groupie that's willing to do anything for an ice hockey player that makes sense yeah so they're just saying like i don't believe you like even if there's no evidence i don't believe you right i don't believe a single word that you're saying like you and also it's very non-committal if there was non-consensual gang essay happening i would have said don't do that or stop it's giving no you wouldn't have i don't think you've ever said those words right right that's just my personal opinion he's asked about the group chat because the crown is saying that group chat is weird you guys are trying to make up the story you guys are trying to get on the same page about the narrative before you're questioned by anybody He says no everyone was just trying to get on the same page about what they were gonna say about what happened in that room Does that not mean that you're trying to but then he's like no, we were just telling the truth We were all just saying everyone should tell the truth basically and the truth is they claim she wanted it She was asking for it

44:48Em's version of events is that the players kept egging each other on saying things like someone have sex with this girl so she's saying that she's she gets out of the bathroom they put a bed sheet down they're telling her to self-pleasure herself and she is very fearful she's also very drunk so that's exactly what she does She starts doing what they tell her to do. She's self-pleasuring. And then she states there's now just a bunch of private parts in her face. And there are commands that she hears such as suck it, spit on it. And so at that point, she performs oral on three different guys. And then she hears them saying things like, someone do this girl.

45:23Like, someone have sex with this girl. And she's testifying. Like, it just felt like that was the next step of what I needed to do in order to get out of this hotel room safely. That's exactly why she goes into the bathroom with Alex Formington. She's like, okay, maybe once I do this, everything will be over. And the defense attorneys just use any sort of memory gap from Em to prove their point. During the cross-examination, the defense attorney suggests to Em that she was probably alone with Michael for about 10 to 15 minutes after they had intimate relations, prior to any of the other players coming into the room.

45:57Which means they're asking her, why did you stay? Which is a crazy thing to ask, but they're like, why didn't you leave? Why didn't you go put your clothes on? Why did you stay unless you were perhaps waiting for the other players to come into the room? It's kind of a wild conclusion to make. A lot of people don't really jump out the bed right after intimate relations when they're super drunk and get an Uber. Usually they're trying to calm down and relax a little bit before they get an Uber. It's just very strange. Em disagrees with all of this and she's saying no, her recollection is clear on that.

46:28First of all, she doesn't even recall there being like a 10-15 minute span that she was alone with Michael after the intimate relations. She said she's unclothed on the bed, two guys walk in, she feels uncomfortable, she goes to the bathroom, and more guys are walking in. And then the defense attorneys clarify with her, well, why did you go to the bathroom where your clothes are and not put your clothes back on? No one told you to come out of the bathroom naked and sit on the bed, right? No one told you to keep your clothes off. No one forced you to undress. no one moved your clothes out of the bathroom and hid them, pointing out like, why didn't you put your clothes on?

47:03Again, a very, I guess maybe it's a logical question to ask, but it just feels like another rape myth is what a lot of survivors are saying. Like, why are we asking all of these accusatory questions for the victim when there are so many different nuances in each specific scenario that these types of incidents can occur, that you just like, you wouldn't be able to comprehend it. Em testifies that after the two guys had walked into the room already, so we're assuming Taylor and Boris, she was unclosed on the bed and she started separating from her body. That's how she describes it. She did a lot of things that she doesn't even quite understand because it felt like her mind was floating to the top corner of the ceiling like a CCTV camera view and she's just watching these things play out.

47:47She feels like she has no control, no choice. It feels like she's just going through all of the motions that she thinks that they want in order to get out of there as quickly as possible. It's not her doing what she wants to do. It's her doing what she thinks they want her to do. She says, quote, I didn't know these men at all. I don't know how they would react if I did try to say no or try to leave. My mind just kind of shut down and left my body to do what it thought it needed to do to keep me safe. That's it. She says it was really confusing to feel herself disassociating like that. She says, quote, I could feel like I was watching my body doing this and acting like I'm liking it and doing what they're wanting to see from me.

48:27And it was confusing to know if I was liking the attention or not, which is the next huge point of contention. It actually is almost a thing where it feels like if you are accusing anyone of especially an SA crime, maybe it's better to lie on the stand. Like that is how survivors feel because SA is so nuanced, even though at the end of the day, you did not consent. and most normal people would agree that you did not consent. If there is anything where you try to be too open, too honest about the experience of like exactly how you felt, it's going to be used against you. So this one phrase blows up in Em's face.

49:06Em admits that, okay, maybe it was possible that she was flirting with the guys in the room. I mean, she doesn't really recall. And this is like a huge thing. The whole question is, this is how it goes down. Did you flirt with them? No. But you just said you don't remember anything that happened during that time period. Yeah, I don't remember, but I don't think that's something I would do. But how would you know because you don't remember? I guess it's possible that I could have flirted with them. So you think that it is feasible that maybe you were giving them certain signals. I mean, yeah, I guess it's feasible.

49:39So it's just like this rabbit hole of like, you're saying you don't remember, but like because you don't remember, now I can say, is this hypothetically a situation that could occur? but if you can't remember you can't rule it out yeah it must be like a very that's a tactic right that's a professional tactic from these lawyers yeah and you have to remember because i mean you must a lot of victims stated that they hate being on the stand because it just feels like these defense attorneys are there to break you the whole point is to exhaust you until you start agreeing with them because you feel like that's the only way out of the courtroom and you just want this to be over with.

50:15I will say that in her initial police statement, she did say that in the beginning she was liking the attention for a little bit, but it does appear that that is, it's vague, it's nuanced, it's not particularly time sensitive. Like we don't know when she felt that way, if that was, and even if she felt that way in the beginning, does not mean that she consents to everything else that happened that night. So I don't even really know why this is a huge point of discourse at in the courtroom but the judge she thought it was she's saying well if you like the attention i mean what does that say about you that's basically how she's insinuating what this was like a huge point in the verdict as well m testifies that if she was being assertive it was just because she adopted this personality that it seemed like the players wanted she just wanted to do what they wanted so that she could get out of there safely she didn't feel like she had a choice.

51:05She just wanted to get the hell out of the hotel room. And so at one point, the defense attorney gets her to admit that perhaps she had taken on a porn star persona. I think what they're trying to do here, and I don't know, maybe this is the truth, but it feels like what they're trying to do is you are saying that you felt traumatized, but you are adopting this very sexually aggressive persona to perhaps protect yourself. But these guys who the defense attorneys love calling boys, But these boys, they don't know that. They just see this sexually aggressive persona that you're putting on. You might be protecting yourself, but to them, that looks like consent.

51:45And as long as to them, it looks like consent, it feels like consent, it is consent. You know, because that's the signal that you're giving them. Like that's the vibe it seems like that they're trying to aim for. And they keep throwing everything to drunk M, this whole persona that she has when she's drunk. And the attorney says, you know, in your head, you want it to be the focus of the room. Yeah, they start harping more on that, the attention part. But what I'm telling you is that these boys were just having fun amongst themselves. So a lot of the guys testify that during the time they did see her, they did see her begging to have intimate relations with the teammates.

52:20But they're saying we were just doing our own thing. Like I was talking to Jake Bean. I was talking to Boris. Like I'm just talking to the guys. I'm not even paying attention to the naked girl in the room. Was she naked? I don't even remember. Like that's the vibe that they're giving. And so the attorneys, they're going with it. They're saying these boys were having fun amongst themselves, separate and apart from your existence. Do you agree or disagree? Emma's like, no, the whole night I was being objectified. Like they were telling me what to do. They wanted to see me do things like she's fighting back.

52:50She's like, no, I'm telling you right now, that's not what was happening. Like it was very loud. It was a very chaotic atmosphere, but it was still centered around her. It's not like they're all doing their own thing and she's just in the corner like, someone come, someone come to me, like I want to do things. She says if they wanted to have their own conversations, I'm sure they all had other hotel rooms that they could have gone to. That's true. Yeah, so she's like, I don't know what you guys are talking about. In the cross-examination, Em does agree that Michael asked her near the end of the night if she was okay and she responded that she was okay because, quote, what else was I supposed to say at that point?

53:24like now like after all that fear and intoxication now she's gonna say you know what i'm suddenly gonna do a 180 and i'm gonna say no i'm not happy with that and you should have like she's like what was i supposed to say additionally records show that when m's mom reported the incident to the police both of them were under the impression that she had been roofied both who mom and the daughter yes okay this is a huge other part of the discourse is there are a lot of netizens that believe perhaps m did say all of those things but she might have not been roofied but might have been slipped some sort of drug like ecstasy that makes someone hypersexual so some people are just saying like the whole thing is weird so like maybe the person if okay Let's just talk in a hypothetical world.

54:19I'm not even going to use the players' names because I'm not saying that this is what happened. This isn't even a conversation during the trial. But if someone, maybe not even one of the players, maybe someone at the bar had slipped an ecstasy into her, like had drugged her somehow in some way, shape or form, she might have had a lot of heightened sexual feelings. And then those acted out in a way where maybe only one or two of the accused or people at the bar knows that she's under this drug. and everybody else thinks like it was just crazy. She was just begging for things. That's what some netizens feel.

54:53I don't know. Some netizens also argue back to them saying like that's not how it works when you're on ecstasy. But then others are saying it really depends on the person. It's just weird. But they did believe initially that she had been drugged. The two of them go to St. Joseph's Health Care about four days after the incident and Em tells her mom like she thinks it makes the most sense that she had been roofied or something of that sort. During the cross examination, M is asked whether or not she took a drug test since she's already at the hospital and M testifies that the nurse did suggest a urine toxicology test but she says that she was under the impression that the test wouldn't even really, the test wouldn't really do anything.

55:34She's saying like she was under the impression that the test, there would be no point because I mean she could have taken drugs afterwards, would have been an argument, like there's no way to tie it to that specific event because four days had already passed so there was a lot of like conversation about that and she's saying that she ends up not taking the test and i'm pretty sure why that is not even really touched upon during the trial because if this is just a crazy almost a conspiracy they wouldn't be able to bring this up yeah but the fact that they went to the hospital that also showed a lot right and speaking of the hospital there's a lot of victim shaming in this incident as well.

56:13She does go to the hospital and the nurse tells her that they can do a head-to-toe full physical examination of logging anything that could have occurred from this incident. Em says that she declined because it's not like she had any bruises. It wasn't essay in the way that you might think it is, like someone is being held down, forced, and tied up with a rope. So she's saying there was no physical injuries like that, so there's no point in that. but a lot of the defense attorneys are like that's weird that you didn't take the test and even for rape kits they're incredibly invasive rape kits are not like here spit in a tube like they're invasive after a very traumatic experience you have to go through a second traumatic experience and at that point most victims are not even thinking about pressing charges their brain is like how do i stay alive and how do i make sure that i don't break apart during this entire trauma.

57:07Like they're not sitting there like I need to log the evidence. I need to collect and gather the data. They're like, I just need to stay alive. Like that's pretty much it. A lot of the words that she uses are again used against her when this is, I think the reason that people are upset about this entire trial is not even because they think the accused are guilty. Some people are like, yeah, I think they're guilty. But I think the reason that people are the most heated is the way everything goes down. The way that they're like dogging on everything. The defense attorneys keep pulling up her initial statement to the police.

57:41This is days after the alleged incident and she's talking about how these guys were allegedly making comments about sticking golf balls and golf clubs inside of her and she to some degree describes it as they were joking about it. Which she uses the word joking about it. And I'm like, I can totally see how that happens because she's still not processing. And she admits at that point when she is going to the police to talk about it, it's more so because her mom reported it and she still hasn't processed it. I'm sure to some degree her brain is trying to downplay everything. She said that she felt so much guilt that she even ended up in the hotel room.

58:19She was like, it was a lot of inner shame that she felt. So as she's talking to the police, I imagine it could have been any situation where the detective is like, so did they put a golf club near you do they have golf clubs and she's like no i think they were like joking about it but i was feeling scared like or like they were joking about it but and then she doesn't necessarily because they to them they are joking about it like they sound like they're making a joke hey guys can we try this like that's what they sound like right but there are golf clubs in the room like you have to remember he he ha ha it sounds like a joke but she's with 10 200 pound six foot dudes that she doesn't know and there are golf clubs in the room at one point dylan dubay does tell the police that he pretended to hit her on the butt with a golf club like you know how you like pretend to swing and stop right before you smack someone so i'm sure to her this is genuine fear but she tells the police i think they were like joking about it.

59:19And then later in 2022, she does sue Hockey Canada. So four years after the incident, she sues Hockey Canada. And in that lawsuit, she states that she was terrified after these comments were made about the golf clubs. And now the defense are like, wait, so how did the joke become scary after four years? You were just like thinking about the joke. And then suddenly you got scared of the joke within four years, because when you were reporting it to the police in 2018, you said that they were joking about it. And then in 2022, you said that you were terrified. You said that those comments made you feel intense fear.

59:48Like, how do you suddenly get scared four years after the event? Em says that by the time she filed the lawsuit against Hockey Canada, she had time to process that fear. The defense and the judge seem to think that that is an unbelievable concept, even though that is a very well-known thing that happens to SA survivors. I mean, actually, coming forward within this amount of time frame is pretty early for SA survivors to come forward. Some people come forward decades later. So what do you mean? Yeah, she needed time to process the trauma. Like, that's how it works. But Michael's defense attorney straight up states, it is inconceivable that it would take years for you to process fear.

1:00:27So, Em testifies that nobody necessarily forced her, held her down. But the way they would joke about things and joke about the things that they wanted her to do, she felt as if they were half jokes. Like, they're not really jokes. She doesn't really have a choice. that's the underlying message that she's receiving from these jokes she said that at the time she might have laughed it off because she thought that was the safest reaction so this is where again i think people are getting very heated because people are saying this is things girls talk about all the time you can't outright reject a guy because there have been instances where you firmly say no i don't want to go out with you and then you get killed and then if you're too passive about trying to protect their ego and their rejection, then they think that you're saying, yes, I do want to date you and I do want you to do things to me even if I say no.

1:01:18It's like there are so many nuanced ways that everyone feels like they have to wander this path. And she said, yes, I might have laughed at some of these comments because I felt like that was the safest thing to do. But they're saying there's no way. The defense attorneys are like, how can you laugh if it's not funny? Em testifies that while she was allegedly being forced into performing oral on a few of the players, she sees another player with his pants off doing the splits quote right over my face she claims that he placed his private part right on top of her face she said that it felt really gross very degrading and it felt like all the players are making fun of her like this is all some sort of joke to them she does admit that there could have been a chance that in that moment in that hotel room she laughed it off because she felt like this was her way of quote coping with the situation the biggest part of this whole split contention because cal foot is only accused of sa in the sense that he did the splits on her face which is sa but his whole conviction relies on this and so she's saying he had his pants off and his private parts were on my face i did not consent to it cal foot's attorneys are saying well you didn't tell the police this in 2018 you didn't tell them about the splits she explains i was really embarrassed like i didn't really even know how to describe the situation.

1:02:34Like the whole thing felt gross and degrading and very difficult to talk about. The defense attorneys, they hit back and they say, but you did tell the police that all the other guys were shoving their private parts in your face saying suck it and spit on it, but you don't talk about the splits. And she's saying her whole argument is, well, no, it's not even just that she saw his private parts or that they were on her face. She's saying Like it's such a weird situation of someone doing the splits on your face and everyone's laughing. I could see how it feels embarrassing in the sense of like it sounds unserious, even though it's very serious.

1:03:16Yeah, yeah, no. But the defense attorneys and later even the judge are basically asking her like, what do you mean? You talked about penises in your face earlier. Why are you embarrassed about the splits? Em testifies that he was fully naked when this happened. all of the guys testify that he was fully clothed some of the other guys say that because of the way that she was wedged in between the beds at one point they didn't see if he had his pants on they could see that he had his shirt on cal foot the guy doing the splits but they say that in no way was any of this sexual carter hart testifies it's just like a pretty cool thing that cal foot was able to do and we would be like hey footer do the splits like it was just kind of a thing he did he's a big tall dude super flexible and everyone was just laughing I looked and I saw Em and she was laughing as well I will say that previously at Jack's bar there is CCTV footage of Cal Foot doing the splits on the dance floor and like all the guys are clearing the way for him to be able to do the splits the defense is using that as see this is not a sexual thing for him like who is he seducing at the bar like this is just a party trick this is him being a goofy silly funny 19 20 year old.

1:04:23This is not him trying to essay someone. Others are bringing up the junior hockey bible and I'm not saying any of these guys read the junior hockey bible that they live by these terms but they did use gummer. Maybe that could have been a consequence of other people in the hockey world using that term and they just adopted it or they maybe might have read the junior hockey bible but there's another term that reads the teabag. Definition. First simply remove your pants and carefully survey the scene. Once this is established, make sure a camera is in place to catch you dropping your doggy nuts onto the victim's forehead.

1:04:56If possible, deposit them into the slut's mouth, but if not, the forehead will suffice. Like the split? Mm-hmm. Well, I don't know if it splits, but you're just placing your privates on. And they literally write the victim's forehead. The victim. Yes. They wrote the victim. Yes. Some people are saying, this is like bro athlete culture. They're probably talking about other guys in the locker room, which would still constitute as I say if they don't consent. But they're just saying like, this is not what it's talking about in the junior hockey Bible. I don't really think that's a great argument to make.

1:05:34Even the alleged spitting on Emma's back, which she testified to, there is this in the junior hockey Bible that states, the McDonald's surprise meal. This is when you are doing a creative move while you are doing doggy. You say, I'm going to reach the destination. You tell the girl, I'm going to reach the destination. But you can't. You don't. You just spit on her back. She will be tricked into thinking that you reached the destination on her back and she will look back at you and when she does, have your fire hose ready and put out that fire on her face. She will be so surprised that she will look like someone who just found a neat toy in a Mickey D's surprise meal bag.

1:06:11Classic move. But regardless of any of this, the crux of the argument is M and the prosecutors are arguing that she was too drunk to consent and the five accused, they knew that. They knew she was too drunk to consent so it didn't really matter if she didn't say no and fought back and tried to run away. She was too intoxicated. M states that even if you look at the bar footage from the CCTV, she's like, my eyes are closed, I'm smiling. It's like a very drunk smile. The trial spends a good while focusing on Em's shoes. One of the defense attorneys even brings in her shoes to show the judge and to show the courtroom is like holding up the pair of high heels.

1:06:52I don't know if maybe I have a tolerance for high heels. This happened in the Diddy trial as well, where they're just talking about the heels. Why? The heels supposed to imply something? Tenny Garrigos just went on a whole rant about how Jane Doe would wear high heels, like five inch high heels. those are for when she was like going out but then on normal days she would wear like three inch high heels it's just to paint someone as yeah yeah it's like what are you wearing is that is that what it is yeah it's what are you wearing and i think there is almost like an insinuation because a lot of the jury they're people with normal jobs and nobody that has a lot of high working conditions can probably wear high heels on a regular basis does that make sense yeah yeah sure like if you're wearing three to five inch heels on a daily basis it could insinuate to the jury we're not in the same tax bracket or you're living life a little bit differently maybe a little more luxurious than i am because i gotta wear sneakers because i'm running around chasing after things and the kids and then i'm running around at work in the stock room like there's a lot of subtle insinuations of high heels.

1:08:03And during this trial, they keep using the word stiletto. Do I think this is like the So Kate Red Bottoms, 120 millimeters? No, I don't think so. I think they look like relatively comfortable heels. If they were close toed shoes, I'd probably wear them to the courthouse. They're strappy, but the heel itself is not particularly skinny or pointed or super high. I would definitely feel comfortable wearing that level of heel to the courthouse, not even as an attorney, just like a member of the press or even to brunch. Like this is a very normal heel. It's nothing crazy. But they keep saying, look at these stilettos.

1:08:37They don't look comfortable. Look at how strappy they are. They're like, it must take a very long time to put these on and take them off. Like this seems like you got to be coordinated to take these shoes off. So they're insinuating like when she gets back to the hotel room and she eventually takes these shoes off, she's not so intoxicated that she can't take them off. I see. So you're saying that they're trying to use this as a piece of evidence. But you also know what they're trying to imply by keep bringing up the pair of stilettos. Yes. I see. And they're also saying, look at the CCTV footage.

1:09:10You're walking pretty steady. And not only are you just walking steady, you're walking pretty steady in high heels. Like that must mean something. And they're just like throwing it up in the air dramatically. I mean, if you squint really hard, they could potentially look like stripper heels. But that's besides the point. Like these are very regular shoes. If you watch the video of them leaving the bar, there is a video. She goes down the stairs fairly quickly. So Michael McLeod is holding her hand and he's walking directly in front of her. He is not slowing down for her. Like he is, I don't know.

1:09:44He looks like he's walking pretty fast down the stairs outside the club. And she is almost touching the wall with her left hand very briefly. But otherwise she's not tripping and falling. She's not getting dragged. But I also think that's very normal because I was thinking about it back to like maybe when I did drink a little more socially. But even when I was drunk, I recall going downstairs is not the most difficult thing, especially if you have momentum. It's not the most graceful. You're kind of like clonking down with heels, like clonk, clonk, clonk down the steps. But it's not impossible.

1:10:15It doesn't really indicate how intoxicated somebody is. She says, I mean, I feel like I still had to focus really hard to get up those stairs. I mean, I know awkwardly outwardly it looks fine I'm not denying that but it I was focusing really hard there is another point of contention where it's cctv video of her leaving the hotel after the incident it's lobby footage she's wearing jeans her high heels she doesn't need support as she walks out she doesn't appear to be walking in a daze or fumbling a lot of people say that she is walking with a very confident gait she's not walking out of there appearing shocked traumatized or completely unwell emotionally.

1:10:54She seems like she's about to go run errands is what people have been saying about this footage. Others are saying, how can you tell? Others are saying it doesn't even make any sense. Like, first of all, her face is blurred. You can't see her facial reaction. You can't see if there's tears streaming down her face. And yes, she is walking steady and she is walking normally. But a lot of victims have come forward to say after an incident like that, you're kind of, some victims say that you're in a state where you are either trying to deny what just happened or make sense of what happened and the last thing you want to do is make yourself feel even more vulnerable so you're at least trying to walk with a confident gait or walk out of there as normally as possible so people don't stop people don't look at you because you don't want attention on you you just want to get home so that you can completely unravel in the privacy of your own room they're saying like what do you mean okay she's not crawling on the floor sobbing banging her fist on the lobby of the hotel like what do you want from her what do you want from her is what a lot of victims are saying then they bring up the bar footage where she tells the bartender that she was shortchanged and they're just bringing up all of this now i will say the bigger points of contention during this trial that a lot of people who support m or support the way that this was a grossly mishandled case, they will admit that these are pretty bad.

1:12:16I will say that, okay? One of them being in 2018, the incident takes place. She goes to the police about it. They closed their investigation in 2019. They say, we couldn't find any evidence. Also, we saw the consent videos. We saw the footage of you. You didn't look that drunk. And here's two videos of you saying that you consented. Hockey Canada does their own brief investigation. They also close it because there's no criminal charges and nobody was really cooperating with Hockey Canada. Everyone just kept saying like, we're not going to talk to you until we talk to the police. There's no way to really compel them.

1:12:46This is an important point later. Hockey Canada closes it. 2022, she files a civil lawsuit against Hockey Canada for$3.5 million. They quickly settle for an undisclosed amount, probably way less than what she was demanding in that lawsuit, but it becomes public. and this is when things start blowing up everyone is like we knew things were happening in fact they discovered that hockey canada has a sludge fund where they take a portion of all the registration fees of all the junior league hockey players and they put it into this fund to cover all ininsurable incidences any sort of opportunities things of that nature that's what they say but essentially a good seven something million dollars of that fund was just used to pay off SA victims or those who have accused players in the league.

1:13:36That's crazy. How did we find out about that? It was discovered through an investigation. The bad part of all of this is in her 2022 lawsuit to Hockey Canada, there are a lot of mistakes in the lawsuit. M claims it's her civil attorneys who had filed that lawsuit. She didn't really think that there would be any criminal charges. She didn't think that anyone would even hear word of it. In fact, nobody even knew who the players were in 2022. They were not alerted. Hockey Canada settled with her so that this would go away. And then eventually it got leaked by investigative reporters. She's saying like, I didn't think it was that serious.

1:14:16I mean, she's not saying it in that sense, but she's saying this was just to sue them. I wasn't going to the police with this document. The police already told me two years ago that they closed the case. So I'm telling Hockey Canada because I'm sure there was a lot of anger and resentment of like, you have this massive organization that oversees all of these players. They're at a Hockey Canada gala, an event in a hotel room that Hockey Canada is paying for. So I'm sure there was a lot of resentment and anger perhaps towards the organization. She sues them. And in that lawsuit, she does falsely name someone that was not there, that was not partaking in these activities.

1:14:55She said that she thought that he was there, but even by naming him, she didn't really think that this wasn't supposed to go public. She's not naming him publicly. She's not going to the police with his name. And she does regret it. It was erroneous. She does wish that she had spent more time going over it. She wishes that her civil attorneys had spent more time going over her police transcripts to understand that maybe they shouldn't have named him. But she did not think that this would be public. She was not trying to falsely accuse that player of anything. She's just saying like, that really didn't have anything to do with me.

1:15:25I didn't even think that this would come out. But this becomes a huge point of contention because naturally people are saying, well, you did falsely kind of accuse someone, maybe indirectly of something. Maybe you're falsely accusing a lot of other people. It just made her seem less credible to a lot of netizens. There are other discrepancies in that lawsuit. she states to Hockey Canada that after she started talking to Michael McLeod, it seemed like she didn't pay for any of the other drinks, that Michael McLeod and all the other hockey players were supplying her with alcohol at the bar and she was just getting more and more intoxicated to the point where they should have known that she was too drunk to consent.

1:16:06They go through the CCTV footage at the bar and at no point do the guys buy her any drinks other than one beer. She had multiple shots, but those shots she paid for herself. so there is that that a lot of people are saying that's a huge discrepancy to have and even though it doesn't necessarily matter in the grand scheme of consent because it doesn't really matter who bought the shots as long as she was too drunk to consent but I guess the question being then if she misremembers that what else is she misremembering as well as she was saying that a lot of the guys were putting her hand on their private areas.

1:16:46CCTV footage from the bar shows her only touching the private areas with her hand of Michael McLeod and he did not guide her hand there. They also make a whole show. The defense attorneys bring in the shot glasses that were used in the Jack's bar to show that the Jaeger bombs that she drank, the shot glasses are not full one ounce pours of liquor. They're actually about half of that. So instead of drinking let's say 12 shots, she's only drinking like half of it. And so they're saying, so maybe you didn't drink as much alcohol as you thought. And she's saying, I still drink the amount that I thought in terms of numbers of drinks.

1:17:21Like I still drink a lot in my opinion. But the defense attorneys say, your truth changes from 2018 to 2022 and now to 2025. And they keep using patronizing language such as, you know, Fun M needs more alcohol, right? So that's why you're paying for more alcohol for yourself. Fun M likes to dance. Look at you dancing on the dance floor. Fun M is outgoing. She's not shy. And they are saying this because at a lot of points, M would say, I don't remember, but that doesn't sound like something I would say. And they're saying, well, that's not you. It was fun M. It's drunk M. She likes to act out on her impulses.

1:17:57Basically saying, admit this. Like you did this because you were drunk and trying to have fun. Then there is the size potential fear. She is stating that she was in a room with 10 200 pound pro athletes. M testifies, again, I don't know these guys. I don't know how they're going to react if I try to leave or if I say no. And I will say that judging from the video of them at the bar, she looks pretty small. But the defense attorney states that she keeps trying to make herself appear smaller so that she can exaggerate the size difference. For example, they asked her, how much did you weigh at the time?

1:18:28And she says that she estimates about 120 pounds. But they're like, but you went through the medical records from the hospital back in June of 2018 and you weighed 138 pounds. So why are you telling me you weighed 120 pounds? And they're insinuating like you went through the medical records recently because to prepare for the testifying, like you go through all the records. So like you saw that it's 138 pounds. Why are you telling me that you weighed 120 pounds when you clearly didn't? What are we arguing here? That's crazy. What's even crazier though, is that the judge uses this part in her verdict.

1:19:03saying what like she is not the most reliable or credible witness that she is answering in a way that seems evasive or roundabout and not necessarily straightforward the truth because the truth would be at the time she weighed 138 pounds the truth is not i estimated at the time i weighed 120 pounds so with that there's this whole argument of like was she really intimidated by their size, you know, which is kind of crazy. Because she's... Yeah. Wow. Then there is the why did you not leave argument. And they don't, like, the defense attorneys aren't outright saying, like, well, you actually weighed 20 pounds more than you said, so maybe you're not scared.

1:19:45Like, they're not saying it like that, but that's the message that they're sending out. That's exactly what they spend days doing. Why not leave? That is the next one. Brett Howden testifies. I mean you could tell she didn't want to leave She made it look like she wanted to But she didn't want to She made it look like she wanted to leave? Yeah Oh so she did look like She wanted to leave at some point Exactly That's fucking crazy But he's saying but she didn't want to Oh that's crazy that he admitted to that Yeah he says she pretended To want to leave And then some of the guys would say things like Baby don't leave and then she would allegedly say, so you guys want to have sex?

1:20:28And then nobody did, so then she would pretend to leave again and then they'd be like, baby, don't leave. Wow. He alleges that she wouldn't even try to leave. She would just threaten to leave and then not leave. The defense also points out that at no point did the guys physically stop her from leaving and also the bathroom door, which she was alone in the bathroom multiple times, the bathroom door is closer to the hotel room door. So she could have just like ran out of there, but she didn't. Em says she did not think of that. Another thing to note, though, I will say is a lot of the times victims have come forward to say you are very scared of making a big scene out of it because you're already not understanding what is happening.

1:21:12Like your brain is still processing the trauma. And now once you make a scene and you run like you've been kidnapped by a serial killer, that is at odds with how the brain is processing the event. so like this is a very normal way that people respond another thing to note these guys are skating 30 miles per hour on the ice I could hardly think that anyone in that position if her allegations are true again for legal purposes if they're true then one would easily assume that these guys who spend the majority of their time going 30 miles per hour on ice and slamming into 200 pound hockey players into the barriers they would easily reach her before she reaches a stairwell or an elevator bay.

1:21:50Em testifies that it just, even at the bar, she was already feeling uncomfortable. Like it was kind of that energy, but only getting intensified as she got to the hotel room. She says at one point she tried to evade Michael by going to the bathroom and trying to lose him, but he insisted on walking her to the bathroom. There is this huge argument about, she states that she tripped at one point in front of Michael and he saw her trip. So I guess the insinuation with the prosecutors are, see, he knew she was so intoxicated. He knew she was super drunk. But then CCTV footage shows that she never tripped in front of Michael.

1:22:23And she's saying, oh, maybe I misremembered. I do remember tripping. Maybe it was like inside the bathroom, though. So she's saying at the bar, she just already kind of felt a little like it was hard to think straight. So she did go to the hotel. And again, she's saying at this point, I'm still consenting. She's saying when I got to the hotel, the first time that she has intimate relations with Michael McLeod, that's not an argument. She's saying she did consent to that. She is now telling her truth of how she felt. And she kept saying like my truth and the attorneys hated that too. So they keep trying to point that out as like, oh, because it's not the truth.

1:22:56So then she's like, well, that's how I remember it. Right. And they're like, but that's not what happened. It was a whole thing. So then she's saying, well, I mean, I felt pressured and I don't think that I was thinking straight. I just felt really drunk. Like that is not something that I would normally do, but we decided to go back to his hotel room and so i did so she's not saying that i didn't want to this is non-consensual she's just saying it was just weird she's just describing how she felt in that moment then they have consensual activities and then the incident starts so michael mcleod is only charged with the essay of the oral sex and then also the incident of in the bathroom at the very end but not the initial time yeah yeah yeah so she's saying like all of that was consensual Like no one is debating that.

1:23:40But the defense submits into evidence that there is footage of M talking to a bouncer at the bar. At one point, she's talking to this bouncer for like seven minutes, which is a very long time. Turns out the bouncer was someone that M knew from high school. So they're catching up. Okay, first of all, the defense is arguing it's strange and suspicious that you never mentioned this bouncer. You never mentioned this bouncer until you are seeing this CCTV footage. And people are like, why are you talking to this bouncer? And that is the first time in 2022 that you mention, oh yeah, that's a guy that I went to high school with.

1:24:09The defense argues you left out the bouncer because it doesn't fit your narrative. For one, the bouncer could have been called to testify about your intoxication levels. The bouncer would know how drunk you are. They would remember you because if you call the bartender, they're not going to remember you from that many years ago. The bouncer, he was your friend. He's going to remember, oh yeah, we ran into each other at the bar and like I could tell that she was this drunk or not this drunk. The defense argues that's weird. Secondly, it shows that she could have easily escaped Michael at the bar if she wanted.

1:24:38She did not feel that uncomfortable because she could have easily gone to the bouncer who has authority in this club and said, hey, these guys are making me uncomfortable and he keeps inviting me to his hotel room, but I don't want to go. Em argues the reason she didn't mention him after the fact is because it was embarrassing and she didn't want to get him involved in such a private matter. So it seems like they're really not that close. And also she's saying, I don't know what he would have provided because I still chose to go to the hotel like i'm not saying that i was dragged to the hotel i'm not saying that he made me go to the hotel i consented to go to the hotel so i just didn't think that this was important a lot of victims agree saying like really like this is such a intense experience and like all you want to do is like call up all your old high school buddies and tell them exactly what happened like this is very strange

1:25:37The civil attorneys, I think that they should be the ones under fire for some of these discrepancies. M's civil attorneys, when they filed that lawsuit against Hockey Canada, it is also in their best interest, the attorneys, to make it the most strongly worded lawsuit possible. That does not become a lie, but it becomes part of the lawsuit. And they allege that the hockey guys were trying to separate her from her co-workers and they're insinuating this was kind of a coordinated thing that they were doing. There was a lot of effort and work that was putting into singling her out, getting her away from her co-workers, supplying her with alcohol, which we later found out was not the case, and then getting her to the hotel room where they all do these things to her.

1:26:27That's the way that it's worded in the civil lawsuit. these civil attorneys they will take a cut of whatever hockey canada pays out it is in their best interest to secure a settlement so maybe it's a little too strongly worded because at no point does it seem like she was forcibly separated or manipulated into being isolated from her co-workers the defense brings up that her co-worker that she ubered to the bar with kept texting her and calling her being like hey are you okay even texting her hey if you ever need like i can get you from the guys and she was like no no it's fine but again a lot of netizens are arguing what does that have to do with consent because again she consented to go to the hotel with michael mcleod and have intimate relations it just doesn't make sense june 20th 2018 so this is like the day after really of the incident this is a huge conversation of fight freeze flight or fawn so people know the first three, which is when you're in a shocking situation, some people have the impulse to immediately start fighting.

1:27:29They're like, I'm going to fight to the death. Like I got to fight back. Some people, they're all about flight. Like I just have to get out of here. I don't care if I look silly, goofy, I'm going to run away. Like there is no way. Or some people just freeze. But then a lot of people don't really know the fourth one that a lot of advocates and a lot of survivors are trying to tell people, which is fun. And I feel like this is one that a lot of girls resonate with even myself which is you do the best to keep the peace to not escalate the situation and to get out of there with everyone being happy except yourself because in your mind that is the safest route fighting maybe in your mind subconsciously you just know you don't stand a chance fleeing you feel like that would cause a bigger ordeal where they would try to retaliate or harm you even more freezing is maybe not what's happening it's just fawning you're trying your best to calm people down.

1:28:22You're trying your best to de-escalate the situation without outright saying, hey, I'm literally going to punch you in the face if you keep doing this. She is fawning a lot and people say that these messages are evidence of that. Michael finds out that she has gone to the police with her mom and that Hockey Canada has been contacted by her mom's boyfriend. He looks for her Instagram and DMs her. Hi, can we talk? She responds, hey, yeah, sure, what's up? Can you call me? Text me first, please. Yeah, I just texted. Busy right now though, I can't talk on the phone yet. How long? Can I call you around 1.40ish today?

1:29:00I need to talk right now. Okay, sorry, give me like 10 minutes. Alright, good now, can I call? One sec. And then she changes her mind. Never mind, I really can't talk right now, I'm sorry. Did you go to the police after Sunday? Question mark? Question mark? Hello? I talked to my mom about it and she called, I think, but I told her not to. I don't want anything bad to come of it, so I told her to stop. I'm sorry I didn't mean for this to happen. You said you were having fun, question mark, question mark, question mark. I was really drunk, didn't feel good about it at all after, but I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble.

1:29:36I know I was in the wrong too. I was okay with going home with you. It was everyone else afterwards that I wasn't expecting. I just felt like I was being made fun of and taken advantage of. He responds, I understand that you're embarrassed about what happened, but you need to talk to your mom right now and straighten things out with the police before this goes too far. This is a serious matter that she is misrepresenting and could have significant implications for a lot of people, including you. She doesn't respond and he texts again, what can you do to make this go away? Yeah, I understand that.

1:30:06I'm not trying to push this any further. I'm sorry for any trouble it might have already caused. He responds, okay, so can you please figure out how to make this go away and contact the police? Okay. Can you call me once you've done that, please? And let me know what's happening. This needs to be done now before this goes any further. Please. Have you done this? Question mark. Question mark. I'm at work. I'll deal with it as soon as I can. Okay. So you're putting an end to this, right? Yes. I appreciate that you're going to put an end to this. I know this must not be easy for you to have to call the police and say this was a mistake.

1:30:38Have you thought about what you're going to say to them? She doesn't respond. So Michael sends, hey, just wondering what's happening. I told them I'm not going to pursue it any further and that it was a mistake. You should be good now. So hopefully nothing more comes of it. Sorry again for the misunderstanding. I appreciate you for telling the truth. Thank you. All the best. Okay, so this has been dissected five bajillion times on the internet and by people and by survivors, by advocates, and also people who just hate M. This is another thing. A lot of discourses around the fact of why, okay, if anyone hates false accusers, it's SA victims.

1:31:20Victims hate false accusers probably more than anybody else. But I don't know why a lot of men, specifically sportsmen, hate her with a passion. They act like they are about to get accused tomorrow. and a lot of victims and a lot of advocates and a lot of people are fighting back of, well, that's not the case because, I mean, statistically, it's just not something that happens as frequently as a lot of these guys are saying it happens. And additionally, I mean, when you follow the rules of enthusiastic consent, it's just not something that happens. So this is, you know, this is not a cut and dry situation.

1:32:00And if you read these messages, you can see that. So first of all, a lot of people are pointing out that Michael's messages are incredibly assertive. It comes off as someone where they know what they want and they're very aggressive at getting it. And I'm not saying aggressive in the sense of like that is how he must have been sexually, but he is very firm. He is texting her nonstop. He's telling her exactly what he wants her to do. He is not being shy about it. And she, on the other hand, seems like she's nervous in fact the police the detective testifies that she was going back and forth like eight times about whether she wanted to pursue charges or not like she kept changing her mind wow she kept saying things like i want them to know what they did and like i don't want this to happen to another girl but also at the same time like i don't want them to get in so much trouble like she was just dealing with a lot and then at some points she does testify later that she felt like part of it was her fault like she she brought it upon herself that she even went to that hotel but here's what's interesting about this why not in the dms did he not just say hey so you're actually crazy because you're the one that begged everyone to have sex with you and then you went to the police yeah no one would have been mad i feel like that's anybody's reaction if that's what happened that would be my reaction that would be anybody's reaction yeah like are you insane like you literally were begging people and then now you go to the police and accuse us like that's crazy You are crazy.

1:33:27Yeah. But no, he says, you said you were having fun? Question mark, question mark, question mark. She also states, okay, a lot of people were saying, I didn't feel good about it at all after. A lot of people who support the accused are using this statement and they're saying, see, just because you consent, but then feel shitty and ashamed for what you did afterwards does not mean that it was non-consensual. I don't know if we can like nitpick every single word that everybody uses. It's just weird. And she also does state, I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble. I know I was in the wrong too. So a lot of people are saying, see, she knows that it was consensual.

1:34:05She knows she shouldn't have done this. Like she feels gross about it afterwards. But a lot of people are saying it's just her processing the shame. And again, she texts him. I was okay with going home with you. It was everyone else afterwards that I wasn't expecting. he does not refute this in the dm he does not say what do you mean i texted them to come in the group chat because you told me to which is what he tells the police why would he not say that in the dm it's like really clear what happened i don't yeah she says i wasn't expecting and then she says i just felt like i was being made fun of and taken advantage of now a lot of people who support the accused say being made fun of while you're having intimate relations and being degraded does not mean that it was non-consensual yeah because she's not processing she's not processing and she's clearly not the person that will go to him and say hey you essayed me you guys essayed me yeah she's not gonna say that look at the way that she's like avoiding yeah the topic she's avoiding calling him she's avoiding like everything at this point and the fact that he is almost including like this sentence is crazy this is a serious matter your mother is misrepresenting and could have significant and could have significant implications for a lot of people guilting her including you he says including you that was crazy yeah is that not like a threat it's a threat yeah like what would what would these serious implications be if she's telling the truth he says what can you do to make this go away she's apologizing for the trouble that she's caused like it just again feels like textbook look someone who is fawning, like someone who's just trying to avoid and not be confrontational and just try to make everyone happy because they believe that is the safest exit out of this situation.

1:35:58And you might not agree with that just on a personal level. Like I know there are a lot of people like I'm very non-confrontational and there has been friction in my life of people being like, well, you should just voice it when you're not comfortable. I think it's just like a personality difference. And whether you agree with that's how someone should live their life does not refute the fact that this is something that happens. Yeah, yeah. And the fact that, you know, most of these people, they know exactly what they're doing. You know, they're not, you know, anyways. Em says with all these messages, she testifies she just wanted to avoid the confrontation as much as possible.

1:36:31Her ultimate goal was to keep everybody happy, which is exactly what happened in the hotel room because she was very scared. She was very fearful. She didn't feel like she could say no. And so she just did everything to get out of there. and the safest way she thought that was, was to do what they told her to do. Like once they're satisfied or happy or content, like she could just leave because they won't want anything more from her versus like running away or fighting. Other netizens are just saying, think about it like this. Anyone who has ever fond before or that is their typical response in these types of situations.

1:37:04This is how pushy Michael is on DMs and this is just Michael. Imagine how that dynamic played out with 10 of them in one room in person drunk yeah and celebrating and in this very boisterous mood with all their teammates like yes this is just one person in the dms yeah the defense also pulls up other chat logs when em is seen in the hotel cctv footage leaving she's on the phone em testified that she had called her best friend and she was crying for just emotional support she says in that moment she was feeling overwhelming feelings of shame mainly like embarrassment she wasn't calling her saying like I was essayed because in that moment she just felt shame like that was the overwhelming feeling which again not dissimilar to like every other victim's experience they're saying like this is not unique this is a normal thing she cries all the way home in the uber and she does acknowledge that as she's crying she is telling her friend like I thought this guy was nice.

1:38:07Turns out he's a douchebag. So she's saying these things of why she's crying. Because her friend is like, you need to tell me what happened. Instead of saying, I was essayed, all these guys came in here and they all essayed me in a group. She says, I went home with this guy. I thought he was nice at the bar. He turned out to be a really big jerk. She mentions feeling intensely guilty for cheating on her boyfriend. She has a boyfriend at the time. This will be a whole thing. she does not mention gang essay or essay m testifies at that moment it was because she didn't realize it was essay i mean she knew it was something not normal happened but she couldn't put the word to the experience and also like i don't know if she wanted to tell her friend everything they hang up m gets home the next afternoon her best friend texts her and m is just reassuring her like i'm okay girl i think i was just being a little dramatic earlier but i'm good.

1:38:59I'm still processing it, doing my best to try to be fine. Her best friend responds, you scared me. I'm sorry. I was just feeling really, really guilty and mad at myself for letting that shit happen. I just felt dirty and used after. The guy was such a jerk and he had all his friends in the room and it was just like a really bad situation. I shouldn't have put myself in that situation. The defense is just saying you keep telling your friend it's because you feel ashamed, you feel embarrassed and you feel guilty for cheating on your boyfriend. Em testifies, yes, I said that because quote, I didn't want to admit it was sexual assault.

1:39:28I didn't want to say those words because then it would be true. I didn't want to admit it was as bad as it was. I didn't want to think about it. The next day, M's co-worker also texts her asking her if she got home okay and then writing, you were having a blast with those guys. She responds, haha yeah, they were funny, crying laughing emoji. The defense is like, see, you loved it. She's testifying. I was ashamed. I was embarrassed. I just, this is my coworker. This is not even a friend. She's like a new friend. I just started hanging out with her. I'm not going to tell her my life story and the worst night of my life over text message the next day.

1:40:03She said that I was just trying my best to make her seem like I was okay and that I was normal. A few days later, Em tells her best friend that her mom has gone to the police and she says, pretty sure I was roofied to be honest. And my mom is taking it hella seriously contacting the police and shit the group of guys are all high up hockey players go figure lmao she says it's okay i was just trying to downplay it and just forget it but honestly i'm pretty fucked up from it right now so i don't know so again it people are saying it's just very in line with how survivors are yeah and again Even survivors are saying, do they wish the verdict was different?

1:40:46Yes. But do they understand why the verdict is the way it is? Yes. They're saying it's notoriously difficult to get SA convictions. They're not saying they don't think that she's lying. They think that she's telling the truth. It's not the verdict that's the main problem a lot of survivors feel with this. It's the way that she was allowed to be eviscerated on the stand by the defense attorneys for seven days straight. It's the way that they pulled out every single slut-shaming, victim-shaming, rape myth out of the textbook that we thought we left in like 1999. They brought it back out in the good year of 2025 and whipped them all out back-to-back repeatedly when this is a very normal, standard way that victims process the incident and then eventually heal.

1:41:30Like, this is insane. And again, even survivors were stating online, had the judge just read the verdict and then said, for these reasons, these are the reasons why I am legally finding the accused not guilty. She could have even said they're not guilty in the court of law, but I think this is a bigger conversation for implied consent. It's a bigger conversation for what really is enthusiastic consent. It could have been a big learning moment for everyone, but no, she was just like, she is a liar. I don't believe her. The judge is like, I think she wanted this basically in her 91 one-page verdict.

1:42:05She pretty much says everything but that.

1:42:10Even during her testimony, Em is constantly apologizing when a question is confusing, when it's literally not her fault. That is the attorney's fault. That's asking her the confusing questions. Defense attorneys are literally paid to ask questions in a way that is clear so that the witnesses can understand. So it's actually their fault, but she's apologizing. And then finally, she stands up for herself. At one point, Alex's attorney is grilling her. She starts feeling frustrated and she says, I feel like this is also my time to stand up for myself when I couldn't do it that night. So I'd like to respond to how I'd like to respond if that's all right with you.

1:42:48I get it. Legally speaking, that's not how it works when you're testifying on the stand. And with Father Iren, I think that he is a very fair judge when the victims would get flustered on the stand and would try to explain certain decisions or ramble about why they felt the way they felt. He was very kind in the way that he would let them at least finish talking. And if it happened too repeatedly, he would say, you know, like we have to, you have to answer the question. Yeah, we have to just answer the question. Like, I know it's difficult, but I mean, have some sympathy, right? The attorney could have easily told her the same thing.

1:43:23Like, yes, I understand that, but this is not the time and place to do it because this is how it works you have to answer the questions that i ask so she says this is my time to stand up for myself like i would like to respond how i would like to respond if that's all right and the attorney straight up tells the alleged victim well in fact it's not all right you're here to respond to my questions yeah just like i'm just thinking about the amount of trauma she's gonna have after this yeah and this is again people are saying another reason that victims are not going to come forward. Like, why do you think it takes people so long to come forward?

1:43:58And then they get slapped in the face when they take so long to come forward when this is all they see on the news. The defense tries to convince her during the cross-examination that let's be real, she wanted this. However, she was feeling dirty and used because the guys were not very nice to her afterwards and she was expecting thank yous and hugs and attention. But instead, they kick her out after all of this. after she is in the shower with Michael McCloud. The defense argues Michael just wanted to get her out so that he could sleep because he's got a golf tournament tomorrow. And he keeps asking her when she's going to leave.

1:44:30The defense argues that that makes Em feel really annoyed. He's being very disrespectful and rude. And she does in fact call him a jerk to the police. He won't walk her to the door. He won't call her an Uber. In fact, he asks her, you're sure you don't have STDs? Are you leaving anytime soon? which she states that she was taken aback by those comments. She says she was taken aback, but the defense attorneys latch onto that and they're saying, you were taken aback because you were expecting something else. Tell us what you were expecting. You were expecting love and adoration and praise. Alex's attorney asks her, you felt a bit scorned that neither Michael nor Alex were really paying too much attention when you left.

1:45:11You were expecting them to give you a hug and to thank you for the night and walk you to the lobby. and when that didn't happen, you felt hurt.

1:45:20N disagrees. She says, I remember feeling that it was odd. I'd never had an encounter that kind of ends in that type of way, but I wasn't scorned about it. I definitely felt disrespected, but I felt disrespected the whole night, so I'm not sure why I thought the end would be any different. Another part of the defense that they fixate on is Brett Howden. The notoriously unreliable witness testifies that he recalls near the end that she was quote weeping and that at one point she kept saying like I'm too sober for this I'm too sober for this and then accidentally she calls Michael the wrong name and I guess Michael gets offended by that and he asks her straight up like that's not even my name why are you even here by the way which set her off is the insinuation like that hurt her feelings she is now a scorned woman who wants payback and revenge and now she regrets everything that happened is the insinuation because she's been disrespected so like the insinuation is she consented to all of it and then the guys were rude to her so now she's like you know what i take back my consent but here's what's weird he's saying that she kept saying i'm too sober for this but then she's like calling michael the wrong name so i'm like i don't know that doesn't seem too sober then and also she's weeping it just sounds like so much is happening like that is not normal for you to be saying I'm too sober, calling people the wrong name, and then to be crying all in the span of the time that Brett Howden is like leaving this room.

1:46:42Yeah. That seems very emotionally tumultuous. And at which point someone should have been like, maybe she is very emotional, very drunk, not in a position to consent. The defense argues that she had strong motive to lie because she has a boyfriend who is now her fiance in 2025. The defense points to M statements from 2022 in the lawsuit against Hockey Canada that she says, it caused a strain to my relationship with my boyfriend. And the defense asked her, but your boyfriend wasn't mad at you for cheating on him. You know, they're saying because he had sympathy, like he reacted to with sympathy, right?

1:47:19Because he saw you as a victim. I guess, yeah. which is true but I think the the wording the way that she is forced to admit it I think it insinuates that the motive is there then then the consent videos the judge focused a lot on the consent videos and people from both sides people who support M and then people who support the accused are arguing separately people who support M and what the prosecutors are saying is it's just weird. If you have to get a video of someone consenting, you should really question if they consented because that's just not a normal thing to do. The people who support the accused are saying, well, these days with all these false allegations, okay, with all these false allegations, I mean, I would get a video too if I were a famous hockey player.

1:48:15the defense argues that em testified that she doesn't even remember the first video being recorded she doesn't know if someone was recording her so that means that she couldn't have been acting for the camera and allegedly in this video she is seen smiling em argues well actually like near the end of the video you can see me wipe my eye with the back of my hand i think that was when i was crying in the night which would make sense like if she's crying and then they're like wait we got to get a video to make sure that she, because she's already crying. So like maybe tomorrow morning she's going to realize, like, I would imagine that that logically kind of makes sense.

1:48:51And she's saying, I think it was near that time that I was crying. So I'm wiping my eyes, but I don't know. She looks at the video and says, I don't really look like myself. The judge does not believe that. The judge believes it looks like you're smiling. So you're smiling. You didn't know the camera was recording. So you're not acting for the camera. So that means that you're smiling when this is happening. Basically. If Em tries to bring up the fact that she believes she was wiping tears from her eyes, the judge is like, that is all speculation. But also, smiling equating to consent is also speculation.

1:49:29Then the second video where she is talking about like, God, you're so paranoid. Like, yes, I'm okay with everything. Like, I'm too sober for this. She says, at this point, like, I think my mind was disconnected from my body. And again, people are saying, what do you expect her to do? Because up until this, she told us straight up, she was in fear and she was fawning and she was doing whatever it took to get out of there. And at this point, it sounds like, holy, you're so paranoid. It almost sounds like, again, theoretically speaking, in some logical situation, it would make sense if someone in the room is like, wait, are you sure?

1:50:04Are you sure? Are you sure you're consenting? Which again, if you have to ask, that's very strange already. I'm not saying it's illegal, but it's strange. And then to get the video and then she's saying, holy, you're so paranoid. Like I'm okay. Why would he be paranoid? I mean, unless he has videos of every other person that he's ever had intimate relations with consenting, then it's just weird. And at this point, these guys are not in the NHL. They're definitely not as established in their career. And I'm sure they're heavily career oriented players. they're very successful in what they did but it just doesn't make sense i think people are saying even if this is a thing that a lot of pro athletes do which a lot of people on reddit were saying they have had experiences it might apply more to someone in the nba in the nfl in the nhl an a-list actor insert the most famous singer you know they might do that because they have pr training media training they have a whole team of attorneys who have already informed them of all the necessary ways to protect themselves.

1:51:05And they have this level of fame that most people cannot fathom. But these are 19 to 20 year old junior league players. I don't know if they've gone through all this process of like, okay, now that you're making millions of dollars, you just want to protect yourself from any sort of accusations or lawsuits. It just is weird. It's very weird. Now, the detective testifies that even when they reopen this case, a lot of people online were saying, why is she just now coming forward? Which is already a crazy thing of like, why does it matter when she comes forward with it? But this is not even her coming forward.

1:51:39She actually came to the police very early on, like days after it happened. They closed the investigation in 2019. In 2022, she sues Hockey Canada, and this is supposed to be anonymous, but it gets leaked. They don't know who the plaintiff is. They don't know who M is, but they know that something has happened the police decide that they're going to reopen the case and the detective testifies on the stand i mean i felt pretty bad because it felt like i got the sense that i was opening up some wounds that she was trying to close i think it was a bit overwhelming for her like she wasn't expecting this so it just yeah it's uh it's frustrating and another frustrating part is there are a lot of statements that are being used against m so when she was talking to the police in 2018 and then later in 2019, her lawsuit against Hockey Canada in 2022, what she said to the police in 2022, all of those are being brought up.

1:52:34Now the players, the accused, their interviews, their very brief interviews, like they dropped the ball. The London police did not really even go in with a full investigation. They were just like, well, we saw the consent videos and you didn't look that drunk. So we think you consented. They didn't ask hard questions for any of the accused, just nothing. They were just like asking a few questions of like, oh, so she was inviting people like you guys had food. It's just the most bland thing ever. At the same time in 2018, Hockey Canada has opened up their investigation, but they are talking to the players, but they compel them to talk.

1:53:11The investigator that's working on this in Hockey Canada, she's an attorney, she was hired by them. She's a third party firm and she basically tells them, hey, Hockey Canada is not going to work with you guys unless you guys take this interview. So they come in and now they're almost being forced to take this interview, whereas the police cannot force them to take any interview. You can just say, I'm going to lawyer up. I'm not going to talk to you. Whereas in this situation, she's almost forcing them to talk. They come in with the assumption and the agreement that, hey, you cannot record, you cannot audio record this.

1:53:38You can only take notes. So she does take a ton of notes and this is not allowed into evidence because at that point she already knew that the london police were going to subpoena her records that they were going to get a warrant for all of her notes and what's the problem with that they're saying it's highly prejudicial and it could be considered coercion because at this point the players were cornered into talking to the investigator which the police could not make them do that. The investigator knew that there would be a potential warrant out for all of her notes and so it just seems like they were being compelled to do something that could infringe on their rights.

1:54:20So whereas Em, she's got the police statements, the Hockey Canada lawsuit, the Hockey Canada conversations, more police statements, all being compared to her timeline, to bar footage, to everything and then her testimony. There's going to be a lot more opportunity to find inconsistencies because that's just what happens. The guys, however, have less material that's allowed into evidence. They've got the group chats. Yeah, they've got the initial police brief interviews, but all the Hockey Canada stuff is not allowed. So there's not even that much cross comparison because that's how they get you.

1:54:51They impeach you on like, well, two years ago you said this and now you're saying this. They're catching you in a lie. But even with the limited information, the guys are still caught lying. For example, Alex says he never saw anyone smack M on the butt. Then later he says, you know what? I did see Dylan Dubé smack her on the butt. Alex is confronted about that discrepancy and he just states he was nervous, overwhelmed, and didn't want to throw Dylan Dubé under the bus, but he wanted to correct the record that he did see Dylan Dubé smack her on the butt. So there's just like lots of discrepancies and inconsistencies, even with the guys and all of their statements, but it doesn't matter.

1:55:26And again, even if we're not disputing the verdict, legally speaking, because a lot of people are saying it's just how difficult it is to convict people of SA. The judge did not have to say like half the stuff that she said in that verdict. She says, quote, On several occasions, the complainant referred to her evidence as her truth rather than the truth, which seemingly blurs the lines between what she believes to be true and is objectively true. The judge even uses, quote, gaps in quotation marks to talk about M's gaps in her memory. the judge says another way that the complainant apparently filled in gaps in her memory with assumptions is the manner in which she answered questions for example she would say i feel that i as opposed as she would speculate as opposed to remembering or knowing the answer to the question this reflects an uncertainty of her memory the judge writes quote it was suggested to m that she remained in the room because she was expecting the other men to enter and wanted to participate in sexual activity with the other men.

1:56:24She denied this suggestion, but it was not a denial because she didn't say it or did not recall saying it. M testified that it doesn't sound like something I would say. Okay. And that the judge is like, that's not a denial. That's not a no. Yeah. How a person behaves when they are clear-headed and sober may not be the way a person behaves when they are disinhibited after consuming alcohol. On the basis of all the evidence, I find as a fact that the complainant did express that she wanted to engage in sexual activity with the men by saying things like, is someone going to fuck me? And by self-pleasuring, the judge is basically saying based on the evidence, I agree this to be true.

1:57:04What evidence? The only evidence we actually have is that text message that Michael McLeod sent to the group saying, anyone want a threesome? Quick, 209, Mikey. There is no evidence other than these guys testifying or telling the police that said that she was asking for this. Literally. Yeah, and all of their stories don't even add up Yes, his DMs don't add up Their group messages don't add up Like, there is no evidence Yeah The judge also touches on the group chats And she says, in his text messages Mr. McLeod reminded everyone to tell the truth And not to make anything up Mr. Dubay told the group Let's not make her sound too crazy Because if she gets wind of this And then she can get even more angry And we don't need that So just be good with it And be the truth with it Which, again, people are saying those are weird group chats the judge says in my view the group chat reflects that the participants were expressing their honest recollections about what happened in room 209 and not concocting a false narrative this judge wow i mean yeah oh m's attorney has come out to say we're very disappointed with her honors assessment of her honesty and reliability m has never really experienced not being believed like this before and it's it was just basically saying it was tough the prosecutors say a successful prosecution is not measured solely by whether there are guilty verdicts at the end.

1:58:24But people are saying this was just not successful in any way, shape, or form. It just is bad. But the five guys, the five accused, have walked out of the courtroom probably more smug than they were walking in because they have just been acquitted of all the charges and they were found not guilty. Netizens are saying that doesn't mean that they're not guilty, but I guess that's a personal opinion. Michael McLeod's attorney states, public perception was shaped by a one-sided narrative from a civil lawsuit that went unchallenged in large part because Hockey Canada settled the claim without first informing or consulting the players.

1:58:56Basically saying in 2022, had Hockey Canada called Michael McLeod and all the other players, they would have fought this. They would not have let Hockey Canada settle. But because they settled, the public believed that these guys were in the wrong. He says that they have vigorously contested M's allegations and they've won. There were brief conversations about Michael McLeod being signed with the Carolina Hurricanes for the NHL, which means that he would stand to make on average like 3.5 to 4 million dollars a year. That's on average how much that team pays. But there was so much backlash, a petition, the Carolina Hurricanes backed out.

1:59:31And now he has recently signed with an Eastern European vanguard team. He's still making a lot of money. His contract is$2.7 million in total, rounding out to be about$900 ,000 a year. One comment reads, not guilty is not innocent. What kind of person treats a woman that way anyway? As for Alex Formington, the other one that is accused of full-on SA and R-word, he is now with the Swiss team. We don't know how much he makes, but a lot of insiders say that it's a very comfortable position. Alex's attorney states, now the public knows that he's innocent of this false allegation, but only after this case has erupted into a massively publicized social cause.

2:00:08Alex's face has appeared on millions of screens and newspaper pages. There can be little doubt that an untold number of people believed he was guilty simply because he had been accused of a crime, long before any evidence was presented in court. As for Dylan Dubé, his previous contract was with a Belarus-based team for$600 ,000 a year, but I think as of right now he's a free agent and he is unsigned. There are reports of NHL interest, but we'll just have to see. Cal Foote, the one who did the splits, his attorney states, at the start of this trial, Cal Foote walked into the courthouse an innocent man, and he walks out today exactly that.

2:00:42Cal never lost faith that justice would be done, despite the clamor of external pressures and agendas outside the courthouse doors. Carter Hart, probably the more popular of the five accused, he's the one with the attorney that a separate victim is just so traumatized by Megan Sevard. But Carter Hart's attorney says, almost every single feature of the evidence that the judge identified today as fatal flaws for the crown has been known to the prosecutors and to the police from 2018. Today's outcome was not just predictable, it was predicted. A lot of comments say she thought she ate with that one.

2:01:19He has recently signed, like a few days ago, recently signed a two-year, four million dollar contract with the las vegas knights golden knights oh people are upset he's in america yes he is the only one that has re-signed with the team inside the nhl and people are rightfully pissed off he says it's been a long road to get back to this point to get back to playing the game of hockey a game that i love and i've been out of the game for a year and a half now i've learned a lot i've grown a lot i'm just excited to move forward a lot of people have been saying positive things about Carter Hart, primarily because he was the only defendant to testify.

2:02:00Hmm. So some people think it could be possible that maybe some of the accused in their minds are guilty. Some of them are not. But I will say it also depends on who's their favorite player. Seems to be a huge part of the reasoning. And a lot of people are against any of them getting signed with the NHL. Saying things like they shouldn't even be walking the streets as free men, let alone taking a spot from another player. Others are commenting, or just like hear me out. I don't know. Just don't sign rapists. Like this is absolutely important and everything that is wrong with sports. And other people are commenting, what's even worse about this is they're not even the greatest hockey players.

2:02:36Like you really don't have to sign them. Like your team is not losing out by not having this one talented player. Like there's so many talented players. Like you get nothing. It's almost like, it doesn't even make sense at this point. It's almost like you're doing this to spit in people's faces. But others firmly disagree, saying they are acquitted. Why are we treating them like criminals? Why should their whole lives be ruined when that is exactly how the justice system works. They were proven innocent in the court of law and people still want to treat them like they were guilty. Like people are saying it doesn't make sense.

2:03:10So there's a lot of debates. Others are commenting like, what's the issue? You guys believe that there aren't girls who are actually down for all this stuff? They try to save themselves and their reputation later by falsely accusing the guys with the things that they wanted to do. Like, come on, give me a break. I will say netizens have said that people who, I think there's a fine line. I think the ones that say that they should be able to live on with their lives and their careers and have an NHL contract. Those are people that are definitely in support of the five accused. But their argument lies on the fact of they were found innocent in the court of law.

2:03:42Once we start making up our own rules outside of that, that's where we get into very slippery slope territory where now it's just getting bad. Like they had been acquitted. You don't have to like them, but they should be able to live their lives because they were not found guilty. but then you have the other side of supporters that are like no that girl is a liar she wanted that she was asking for it this was her dream and a lot of people are just saying like dude because a lot of them are guys just say you want to bang some ice hockey bros like you don't have to put it on women like you can just say that a lot of people are also saying like what is it about sports that brings out guys to defend other guys to the death these guys don't know you and they'll probably make fun of you if they met you at a bar.

2:04:23Others are just commenting that consent video is more like a hostage video. Others are also commenting that even the judge allowing those consent videos into the evidence is just like a dangerous precedent that she's setting. And ultimately M's attorney states when a person summons the courage to disclose their story, the worst possible outcome is to feel disbelieved. It's a gutting experience that no one deserves. That's why today's verdict is so devastating. M did everything in her power to recount her experience honestly and to the best of her ability. She agreed to do everything asked by her, by the criminal justice system, and yet it was not enough.

2:05:00And that is where I leave you with today's case. What are your thoughts? I think there's four groups of people, people who support M to the very end and they say that verdict should have been different and that these men deserve to rot in prison and preferably in hell. Then you have a second group that say, legally speaking, they can understand why the verdict happened the way it did that is not a reflection of m that is not a reflection of her credibility but rather the police the prosecutors the court system the law and then you have some people that are saying at the end of the day what happened was the guys have been acquitted so we all need to move on and then you've got the other end of the spectrum that are like we need to just like burn women at the stake just in case they're going to falsely accuse me random Joe from Nebraska of doing something.

2:05:48What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments and be safe. I will see you in the next one.