S’porean YouTuber Sneaky Sushii Apologises For Copying Smaller Creator’s Work

Singaporean YouTuber Sneaky Sushii, aka Jay, known for his horror and true crime content, has come under scrutiny after another creator pointed out striking similarities between one of his videos and a previously published one.

The Singapore-based creator in his mid-20s, first gained attention online for his commentary videos about Singapore’s social media scene.

In early 2024, however, he pivoted to telling mysterious and dark stories, a move that quickly helped his channel grow.

Today, the channel boasts more than 700K followers.

But on March 13, in an almost eight-minute clip, Denmark-based Bulgarian YouTuber Toni Vesdream explained why one of Sneaky Sushii’s uploads caught his attention.

Toni said he recently came across Sneaky Sushii’s video, This horror film was so real, people reported it to the police…”, which was uploaded on August 30, 2025.

The topic immediately rang a bell as Toni remembered he had covered the same story months earlier on his own YouTube channel, Toni’s Film Club.

His video, which has more than five million views, titled, The Horror Film So Real, the FBI Investigated It, was uploaded on March 2, 2025.

“I remember I spent about three weeks researching it. I had to read part of a book for it, and I even went on Japanese search engines to try to track down articles about it,” Toni said in his video.

He added that because Sneaky Sushii has more than 700,000 subscribers, compared to the roughly 2,000 subscribers he had when he released his video, he initially felt excited to see how a larger creator approached the topic.

However, as he watched the video, Toni began noticing similarities.

One example he highlighted was a comedic reenactment.

In his own video, Toni illustrated a grisly moment by cutting up the limbs of a gingerbread-man-shaped cake. In Sneaky Sushii’s version, a similar scene appeared as a drawing of a dismembered woman.

Instead of reacting angrily, Toni said the moment actually felt oddly validating.

He also pointed out that the narration style and overall story structure felt familiar to him.

As a non-native English speaker, Toni explained that he spends considerable time planning the structure of each video, which is why the similarities stood out.

Despite highlighting these overlaps, Toni was careful to clarify that he was not accusing Sneaky Sushii of stealing his work.

“First of all, I don’t own the copyright of an idea,” he said.

He acknowledged that creators covering the same genres or topics will naturally “hit a lot of the same points”.

However, he explained that when a piece of content is heavily inspired by another source, it is common courtesy among creators to give credit.

As an example, Toni shared that one of his own videos was inspired by a journalist’s article. Instead of simply repeating the information, he contacted the journalist and even featured them in the video.

“I always do my best to properly credit these sources,” he said.

Toni said the main reason he made the video was to encourage better crediting practices among creators.

“We both reported on the same story, so naturally, we’re going to hit a lot of the same points. But usually, if one particular source is the main inspiration, journalistic etiquette, or just YouTube etiquette, would be to give some sort of credit,” he said.

He also acknowledged that he may have missed crediting some sources himself in the past, adding, “I don’t always get it right, but I try to do it with integrity,” he said.

Toni clarified that he has no hard feelings towards Sneaky Sushii, urging viewers not to send hate.

Instead, he said he hopes creators can support one another, especially in an era where AI tools make it easier to replicate other people’s work.

“I would like to believe there is a world in which we can be in it together, rather than against each other,” he said.

However, it seems netizens, especially some who claimed they are Singaporean, weren’t so ready to take the high road like Toni.

“Stealing word for word is the worst. He cannot even be bothered,” read a comment, while another speculated, “They felt you were too small to get caught stealing from you. Not fair or kind of them to do”.

It seems Toni’s content wasn’t the only one that has been accused of plagiarism.

“I remember first noticing that he did that video about famous murders or crimes in Singapore, and there was a 15-year-old article with nearly all the same points, and in the same order in how they explained the story. I stopped watching when he kept churning those Matthew Santoro-type videos,” said a netizen.

It seems word got to Sneaky Sushii as Toni pinned a comment to the video saying the Singaporean YouTuber has reached out to him via e-mail.

“He took full responsibility, he apologised, and has committed to properly credit his sources in the future. As I said in my video, there are no hard feelings. I appreciate and accept his apology. We all make mistakes, what’s important is to learn from them. Thank you all for your overwhelming support, I hope we can all move forward with positivity and focus on great content,” he wrote.

Sneaky Sushii’s video is still on his YouTube channel, and he has since posted this comment addressing the issue.

“Hey y’all, no one’s deleting anything, not the comments or the video itself. I see your criticisms. I am still hugely passionate about making YouTube videos, and I love exploring mysteries. Moving forward, all sources will be cited, and credits will be given for any source material I use during my research. This was a lapse in judgment on my part, and I sincerely apologise to Toni. See you guys’ next week,” he wrote.

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