Former Smash pro ZeRo back on Twitch after five-year ban with wild body transformation

Twitch has unbanned Super Smash Bros pro Gonzalo ‘ZeRo’ Barrios after permabanning him nearly five years ago.

In his prime, ZeRo was one of the most unstoppable Smash players to ever pick up a GameCube controller, winning a whopping 56 tournaments in a row in Smash 4 on the Wii U.

However, Barrios was permanently banned on Twitch back in 2020 when multiple pros and Smash community members were accused of sexual assault and misconduct.

Jisu, ZeRo’s former roommate in the Sky House, alleged he would show her sexually explicit material while underaged in their room. She also claimed ZeRo was abusing his now-wife Vanessa in the early stages of their relationship.

ZeRo originally admitted to the sexual misconduct allegations on July 4, 2020. However, in November 2021, he revealed he was working on a lawsuit against Jisu, alleging her statements “included multiple falsehoods and outright defamatory claims.”

Nearly a year later, he announced that the lawsuit had been settled and was appealing his Twitch ban. Now, three years after that, he’s been unbanned on Twitch as of March 12, 2025.

YouTube/ZeRo

ZeRo underwent a major transformation from his Smash days.

ZeRo unbanned on Twitch

Although ZeRo was banned on Twitch for five years, he wasn’t banned on every platform and continued to make content on YouTube.

Instead of playing Smash, ZeRo underwent a massive body transformation. In fact, the Smash pro is almost unrecognizable – and that’s because he bulked up significantly from his former 400-pound state.

In a January 2025 video, Barrios explained that he’s taken on a new job of helping others with their body transformations with personal training and other fitness goals locally, but he’s since taken his talents online.

That doesn’t mean he’s not done fully competing in Smash, though. In fact, in 2024, he was invited to a tournament in the Dominican Republic with several top players, where he performed better than he thought he would.

ZeRo is planning to make content for the new Smash game on the Switch 2, but remains committed to bodybuilding.

It’s unclear what prompted Twitch to unban ZeRo, but on February 19, the Amazon-owned platform announced a series of changes to bans.

In particular, the platform revealed that violations would now expire and indefinitely suspended streamers would be able to request reinstatement.

At the time of writing, Barrios has yet to acknowledge his unbanning on Twitch, but given his focus on fitness, it’s unclear how this might impact his current goals.