A popular video game streamer is receiving a wave of support from other online creators after he was identified in sexually explicit content that circulated across X over the weekend.
Kylie Cox, who became a phenomenon in the sports world this year with his catchphrase “What’s up, brother?” posted an emotional video Monday acknowledging that he had posted content on the subscription platform OnlyFans. Some of the content showed Cox having sex with another man.
“That was me,” Cox, who goes by the nickname Sketch, said during a livestream video on Monday. “Two years ago, I did some stuff. I’m sorry if you’ve seen some of the stuff.”
The episode has reverberated through parts of the broader online streaming communities that skew young and male, generating discussion about homophobia and privacy in a corner of the internet that has at times been criticized for how it talks about sex work and LGBTQ people.
Monday’s livestream has been viewed more than 875,000 times on Twitch as of Tuesday, and more than 22 million times in clips that were posted on X. A representative for Cox didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The leak and subsequent video spread quickly in the video game streaming community, with many popular creators who know Cox supporting him on X and in livestreams. The support was countered by some abuse directed at Cox online, including homophobic comments and backlash from another popular streamer, as well as from some viewers.
“Sketch was my homie yesterday, he’s my homie today, he’ll be my homie tomorrow,” wrote YouTuber Richard Bengston, who goes by FaZe Banks online and is the CEO of the popular FaZe Clan esports and entertainment organization.
Cox burst onto the video game streaming scene earlier this year, with his catchphrases repeated by professional athletes and his hometown Houston Texans tapping him to announce a pick at the NFL draft. He has amassed more than 1 million followers on Twitch and 2.1 million on TikTok, where he often plays “Madden NFL” while exchanging nonstop banter with his opponent. As is common in the video game streaming world, he quickly became a fixture in content made by other popular creators including the FaZe clan and others.
Cox said in Monday’s videos that his sudden celebrity came with worry about whether his past sex work could become publicized.
In his livestream, Cox thanked his parents, and Bengston, for supporting him, noting that his friends and family had intervened and “saved” him.
Cox said if he had been alone at the time of the leaks, he probably “wouldn’t be talking […] right now” and would have “called it quits.”
The circulation of sexually explicit content against the wishes of the participants — sometimes called image-based sexual abuse or “revenge porn” — is a perpetual problem on social media, where leaked images and video are routinely shared.
NBC News identified 18 posts on X with over 4.4 million views total that contained videos or links to the leaked OnlyFans content that Cox was in. Sharing sexually explicit content without consent to distribute it is a violation of X’s rules. X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the posts.
The outpouring of support continued later Monday, with many popular creators vouching for Cox’s character and pushing back on people who mocked him.
“I won’t tolerate any homophobia or any disrespectful s— towards Sketch,” Nick Fosco, another member of the FaZe Clan, said in a Twitch livestream.
New York Jets football player Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner wrote on X: “Sketch handled the situation better than alot of people would’ve. The same ones that loved him before all of this will love him after and if they don’t then they didn’t really love him to begin with.”
Cox said he would resume streaming on Twitch later this week.
“I’ve been living under the threat of that coming out for like two years,” Cox said in the livestream, adding that it felt like a “weight lifted off my shoulders.” He said that the content was created during a “dark time” where he was struggling with “addiction problems.”
“I’m a changed person,” he said.
