Technoblade, Popular Minecraft YouTuber, Dies At Age 23 Of Cancer: 'So Long Nerds'
A popular video game YouTuber who went by "Technoblade" has died at age 23, nearly a year after revealing he was diagnosed with cancer.
His father announced his death in a heartbreaking video titled "so long nerds" he shared on Technoblade's YouTube channel. First, he read a message that the Minecraft creator made for his fans.
"If you're watching this, I am dead. So let's sit down and have one final chat," his father read.
In Technoblade's message, he revealed that his real name was Alex and he once pranked his followers by having one of his siblings call him "Dave" in a since-deleted video from 2016.
He then apologized to his fans for "selling out so much in the past" year and thanked them for buying his merchandise.
"My siblings are going to college," he said. "Well, if they want to. I don't want to put any dead brother peer pressure on them. But that's all for me. Thank you all for supporting my content over the years. If I had another 100 lives, I think I would choose to be Technoblade again every single time, as those were the happiest years of my life."
After reading the message, Technoblade's dad said that he talked with his son for "a couple of months" about how they were going to make his final video.
"He wanted to have everything he wanted to say written down ahead of time," he said. "And I think he was having a hard time focusing, with all the various things that were hooked up to him."
Technoblade's dad said he told him that he'd already done so much for so many people and that it was OK to rest — but said if he wanted to write a message, he shouldn't wait for things to get better. Technoblade asked for his father's laptop and wrote down what he wanted to say.
"He finished that up and then he was done," his father said, through tears. "He lived about another eight hours after that. We all said goodbye. He was the most amazing kid anyone could ever ask for. I miss Technoblade."
At the end of the clip, Technoblade's family shared a statement where they praised his "good-natured humility" and "self-deprecating wit."
"He avoided personal fame and worked hard to keep his true identity confidential, and we ask you to honor his wishes to protect his privacy and the privacy of his family," they wrote.
“This past year has had a lot of rough spots for our son as he battled stage four cancer," the statement says. "But he didn’t complain, and kept using his famous strategic mind to try to beat what he knew were almost impossible odds. My son’s bravery on this path was a shining lesson to all of us who were privileged to walk it with him. Thank you for sharing his journey through it all, as he did the work he loved for his beloved fans.”
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