Willis Gibson, a 13-year-old video game streamer, accomplished something thought to be impossible last week, defeating the original 1988 Nintendo classic video game Tetris and becoming the first person to ever reach the end of the game. Gamers around the world rushed to praise the Tetris prodigy. Unfortunately, Sky News anchor Jayne Secker didn’t exactly give Gibson a warm congratulations.
Gibson, who goes by the streaming name ‘blue scuti’, posted the full video of this feat on his YouTube channel.
The accomplishment was even officially recognized by Maya Rogers, the CEO of Tetris.
“Congratulations to ‘blue scuti’ for achieving this extraordinary accomplishment, a feat that defies all preconceived limits of this legendary game,” Tetris CEO Maya Rogers said in a statement.
Secker, meanwhile, took the opportunity to tsk-tsk Gibson and his parents for allowing him to play the game so extensively.
“As a mother, I would just say step away from the screen. Go outside, get some fresh air. Beating Tetris is not a life goal.”
A news anchor has been called out after diminishing the accomplish of a 13-year-old beating Tetris, telling him to "go outside" and that beating the game "isn't a life goal"pic.twitter.com/1GsnWJksP3
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) January 4, 2024
There are clearly two ways of thinking about this. Younger generations see this as a real accomplishment that is deserving of praise. Then there are people like Secker who see video games as a distraction from far more important things. As you would expect, there was plenty of pushback against Secker’s on-air criticism of Gibson and his family.
Imagine having to talk down about a literal kid just to make yourself feel better.
— McMintz (@McMintzOfficial) January 4, 2024
Yeah she’s an absolute loser. Hating on a 13 year old for accomplishing something she never will be able to do.
— RehlapzZ (@RehlapzZ) January 4, 2024
Well, someone’s clearly never experienced the satisfaction of clearing four rows at once in Tetris! Maybe the news anchor should try it for themselves before they come for the 13-year-old Tetris champion.
— 🍍Anael ❤️ (@anael__mevoung) January 4, 2024
Becoming the first to do something in any field is certainly something to be proud of, whether Secker thinks it was worthy of the young boy’s time or not.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.