Teenage Fortnite Champion “Swatted”
Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, the 16-year-old Fortnite solos World Champion, was “swatted” yesterday while streaming the game.
Giersdorf was in the middle of a game when his father alerted him there were armed police at the door. Giersdorf left the stream for over 10 minutes while he and his father handled the situation.
The streamer told his viewers what had happened when he returned to the stream. “Yeah, I got swatted… I was lucky because the one officer, he lives in our neighborhood,” said Giersdorf. “They come in with guns, bro. They literally pulled up.”
“Swatting” is the criminal act of reporting a false threat, usually violent, to send armed police to a person’s house. This type of “prank” has happened to many streamers before. Streamers have been seriously hurt and even killed by these false calls. Thankfully, nobody was hurt this time. Other targets of swatting have included Alterna Comics publisher Peter Simeti and Comicsgate commentator Edwin Boyette.
Giersdorf won the first-ever Fortnite World Cup just two weeks ago. The 16-year-old streamer took home a big trophy and $3 million in prize money.
