On Wednesday, allegations were made public against independent wrestler David Starr (real name Max Barsky) by a woman named Victoria. The two had a prior relationship several years ago.
Victoria, who is @slaymysterio on Twitter, posted messages that she sent to Barsky. In the messages, she spoke of the pain he caused and alleged that “You rape women and you gaslight them after.”
Below is a portion of the message:
It took a long fucking time to get over the trauma of dealing with you and trust me I’ve tried all of the ways. Anger, sadness, trying to be nice. Literally anything. I left Twitter for a year to never see your name again, I left wrestling, the only thing that meant anything to me because you shat on it and I hate who I became after you.
But I did it, I healed and I came back and I was fine so why do I have a girl I don’t know reaching out to me to discuss the shit ways you treat women. Emotionally. Sexually. Mentally. You rape women and you gaslight them after. I know you know you do it because you told people you were scared I would speak up. How dare you have the audacity to tell me you don’t remember that night in the hotel and then telling your future girlfriends about it. That wasn’t even the only time you pressure me into sex. You pressure a lot of women into sex it seems.
You’re evil and disgusting.
I don’t want to bring down your career. I have nothing to do with pro wrestling aside from tweets, I don’t attend and will never see you again so that doesn’t matter to me. Plus it’s a pandemic so that wouldn’t even make sense if this was about your career. I want you to stop hurting women and I want you to leave me the fuck alone when it comes to your relationships. You can save this for your Victoria folder and read it however many times you need to.
On Twitter, Victoria made claims that Barsky held onto old screenshots to use against her to make her look angry and crazy and added that he allegedly has folders for several people.
Barsky has responded to the allegations with the following tweets sent on Wednesday evening:
I didn’t do what Victoria is accusing me of.
I am not a sexual predator
I have been an awful partner.
If this is the end of wrestling for me, that’s ok. I know I’m not a predator and I know the truth of this situation. I know that I’ve learned from my wrongdoings. There’s no sense in going on the offensive. No matter what I say, I’m the bad guy. No pity party. It is what it is.
I’m gonna keep working on me so that I can be the partner i need to be to someone someday.
To be clear, I am not a sexual predator, but I’ve been a dickhead to my partners. I’m owning up to that and taking this time to grow. I will not go on the offensive. I was a cunt to Victoria. I know I’ve been an emotionally immature dickhead to my partners, Victoria especially.
The tweets by Barsky followed a lengthy statement he posted on his Twitter account, which is dated June 8th, 2020:
I did a lot research on the topic of “grey rape” after discussing with multiple victims of SA.
In my letter I wrote to Victoria (never sent) on the same day I wrote the other message: pic.twitter.com/uQ3U8SFVRe
— (((David Starr)))🌹 (@TheProductDS) June 17, 2020
In the letter, Barsky addresses the night in question in a hotel room following a concert the two attended and stated:
There is no way I will invalidate your lived experience. Since I’ve been beginning this course of self analysis, I have thought about what you described to me a few years ago in that DM. I thought about my response where I basically absolved myself of responsibility because “I didn’t know”. Even though I didn’t invalidate your feelings, I still didn’t accept responsibility. Through conversations with other women (including victims of sexual assault) about it all, I started looking into the subject of grey rape. There’s no way that I can apologize enough for not recognizing or understanding what had taken place. At no point did I ever think that something was non-consensual, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t. At no point did I think that something was non-consensual, but that doesn’t mean it was consensual. A lack of a verbalized “no” doesn’t mean consent.
In an exchange the two had on Twitter as a result of Barsky’s letter he posted, Victoria alleged the following:
There was a verbalized no and a “I don’t want to do that”. Why else would you tell me i liked it and gave me the silent treatment all day? You’re remembering it wrong for the internet.
Barsky’s response to that accusation was:
There wasn’t, but it’s ok. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I was a cunt to you (and others) as a partner. Regardless of the anger I felt towards you for your repeated harassment and leaking of my nudes, I know that came from a place of hurt that I caused.
It’s ok. I am not entitled to a platform. I am not entitled to wrestle. I’m not entitled to be believed when I say I’m not a predator. I know I’m not.I hope that you’ve found peace with this as I found mine over the past several weeks. I’ve let go of my anger. I’m looking inward and taking responsibility for things I’ve done wrong. I’m gonna move forward and be better. That’s all I can do.
