A prominent figure in the competitive Pokémon community has announced his decision to reduce his participation in live tournaments due to troubling experiences with fans.
Wolfe Glick, a renowned YouTuber with over two million followers, is well-known in the Pokémon world, having clinched the 2016 World Championships and recently winning the 2025 European Internationals.
In a video titled ‘Moving Forward’, the 29-year-old expressed uncertainty about his future in live competitions following several uncomfortable fan interactions.
“So, from September 2024 until August 2025, I attended seven in-person tournaments – at five of those tournaments, I was groped,” Glick revealed.
“Fans when taking pictures with me put their hands on me sexually and non-consensually during the act of taking photos. I don’t like that this is happening, and I also think that it’s pretty clear to most people, most reasonable people, that this is not normal behavior – like most people do not grope other people.
“And I don’t know why it’s happening to me so much in particular, but the fact remains that it is.”
Despite the unsettling incidents, Glick mentioned that these occurrences were not his sole reason for stepping back. Other factors contributed to his decision.
Glick stated that while these incidents are ‘relatively low’ on his list of concerns, they are compounded by other issues, such as fans physically grabbing him to get his attention and persistent neck pain.
“It is entirely possible that I never compete in or attend another world championships again,” he told his followers.
The situation became particularly distressing at the Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, where Glick felt compelled to leave the venue on the final day and watched the finals from his hotel room instead.
The combination of stress, physical discomfort, and repeated personal space invasions has made attending tournaments increasingly less enjoyable for Glick.
“It’s worth noting that even though at a Pokemon tournament, most people see me as a YouTuber or an influencer or whatever you want to call me, I’m there to compete,” he explained.
“I’m not there to do fan interaction. I’m not there to, you know, be, ‘hey guys, it’s me, the YouTuber’. You know? I go to tournaments because I love competing. While I also enjoy meeting fans, it’s not my primary reason for being there.
“So when I’m at a tournament, it’s been my goal to focus as much as I can on the actual aspect of competing – I’m not saying that I shouldn’t have to do any fan interaction, because like obviously I understand that I do have an online presence and I am an influencer, right? Or whatever you want to call what it is that I do. But the balance has been way off.”
For the time being, Glick announced he will be skipping the next four months of events, including the Toronto Regionals, which he won previously.
His decision follows another content creator, Emiru, who recently shared a similar ordeal, stating she was assaulted at TwitchCon and has decided against attending the convention in the future.