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After three years’ silence, Team Fortress YouTuber says his terminal disease was “a sick joke”

Helios

Member
https://www.pcgamesn.com/team-fortress-2/tf2-sketchek
A Team Fortress 2 content creator who was thought to have died up to three years ago has revealed that he completely faked the terminal illness he claimed to have been suffering from. Sketchek, was known as one of the best Pyro players in the game, posted a video announcing the lie earlier today.
Sketchek’s video, which you can watch in its entirety further down this article, is extremely blunt. In it, he says that “about three years ago, I announced that I had contracted a non-specific terminal illness. I want everyone to know that that was a lie. It was a sick joke, it was a ruse. I was never ill, not even a little bit.”
Sketchek goes on to say that “you might say that I was mentally ill, because I thought it would be fun to convince a lot of people that care about me that I would fucking die.” He also says that “the weight of my sins” convinced him to come out with the truth and apologise to the community.

He continues by saying that there was no excuse for his actions, but “I just love the feeling of taking someone for a ride.” He does however say that during an extended period of time away from his PC in 2015, he became disillusioned with videogames in general, and decided to shut down his YouTube channel. From there, a desire to make an impact with his disappearance lead to the idea to fake his own death. The video announcing his illness appears to have been taken down. He claims that his return is the result of a new desire to play TF2 and to make content for his channel. Over the past several days, he has been contacting members of the game’s community who he used to play with, and dropping hints about his eventual return.
In March 2018, Valve added a new passive to the Pyro’s Axetinguisher item as a memorial, dubbing the new ability ‘Sketchek’s Bequest’ in reference to his final video.
 

oagboghi2

Member
In all that time, he didn't do something worthwhile with his life?

I would feel less crummy if he faked his death, left his channels, and then I don't know started a family, got a better job, lost a ton of weight, something...he just got bored and came back.
 

TitusTroy

Member
props for him coming forward with the truth...to avoid backlash he should have just created a new online identity...change up his appearance, put on a wig, grow a beard
 

CuNi

Member
I don't know if I should be shocked or just shrug it off. It seems to be a trend nowadays to die or so. Xtremegamez also been talking how one of them has like a terminal disease just to end up going to a chiropractor and that's all to it. While I applaud him for telling the truth, I'm confused about what he thinks that will bring him. It's hard to regain trust if you faked your own death once before.
 

Mista

Banned
Cheap way in getting attention. Severe sickness isn’t something to joke about. I really don’t want him to get one just to know how it really feels :)
 

ROMhack

Member
It's morally questionable of course but I find it hard to get wound up. The situation strikes me as an great example/reason to not believe everything you read online. An extreme example of something we encounter in mild forms every day (e.g. trolls, click-bait, and stealth influencers on social media).

I mean just yesterday I read a story on the BBC about some Japanese Fortnite player pretending to be 12 (he's 16).

It seems to happen fairly often so why do we even find it surprising? Is it because we want to trust things on the internet more than we perhaps should?
 
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S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Its gonna be quite something when he does get a terminal disease in the future and nobody believes him
 

Von Hugh

Member
Degradatory or not, I can only think of some basement-dwelling, slightly autistic 4channer to think of such a 'joke'.
 

TLZ

Banned
I was going to say cunt, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for confessing and coming out and apologizing. It's never easy.
 

ROMhack

Member
Its gonna be quite something when he does get a terminal disease in the future and nobody believes him

Nah dude, the fucked up thing is thinking it's important what the internet thinks of him getting a terminal disease at all. It's hardly like his family and close acquaintances - you know, the people who actually matter - are going to be like lol nah you're lying.

Degradatory or not, I can only think of some basement-dwelling, slightly autistic 4channer to think of such a 'joke'.

Well yeah this. Nobody should deny it's a bloody crap stunt. A bit fucked up really.
 
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Shifty

Member
Three years is a long time for this to be a genuine 'lol gotcha'. That's the kind of bit you keep running for a year, tops. I believe the part about the 'weight of his sins' being the thing to bring him back in.

Either that or he's chadwarden-ing everyone and this is all part of the joke, but it's hard to figure out someone's motivation when the well has already been poisoned with lies.

I was going to say cunt
Don't worry fam, I'll handle that.

"I just love the feeling of taking someone for a ride."
Sounds like a class-A cunt to me.
 
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DonF

Member
In March 2018, Valve added a new passive to the Pyro’s Axetinguisher item as a memorial, dubbing the new ability ‘Sketchek’s Bequest’ in reference to his final video.

So he wasnt a regular nobody. Damn, what an asshole.
 

Helios

Member
Three years is a long time for this to be a genuine 'lol gotcha'. That's the kind of bit you keep running for a year, tops. I believe the part about the 'weight of his sins' being the thing to bring him back in.
It's interesting that he had all this time to come back and apologize, but he only did once he wanted to make videos again. Seems a bit like he just wants free publicity.

As a side note, I haven't played MGS so I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the subject but the music he used in the video is "The man who sold the world". I saw a lot of people claiming it is relevant.
 
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iconmaster

Banned
Should have just claimed resurrection instead.
The situation strikes me as an great example/reason to not believe everything you read online. An extreme example of something we encounter in mild forms every day (e.g. trolls, click-bait, and stealth influencers on social media).
Right. On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.
 

Enjay

Banned
It sounds like he was just trying to get free stuff from publishers tbh. Remember that trend where publishers were getting ass pats by publicizing they're letting dying ppl play their stuff early?
 

Silent Duck

Member
Now would be a good time to get the popcorn folks.
tenor.gif

Youtuber destruction in 3...2...1...
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
The mental illness excuse followed by admitting he likes to "take people for a ride", pretty much cements this guy as an asshole.
 

zeorhymer

Member
He's fucking lower than scum. Just like the guy who faked being in a wheelchair. Makes all the legit people who have disabilities or worse less genuine.
 

iconmaster

Banned
“you might say that I was mentally ill, because I thought it would be fun to convince a lot of people that care about me that I would ******* die.”

Nuh-uh, dude. You don't get to claim mental illness as a cover. You're just crooked.
 

John Day

Member
Probably wants to get intro streaming again and figured he’d get that out of the way and hope people would find simpathy enough to follow?

Pathetic all around.
 
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