S’porean YouTuber Sneaky Sushii apologises after smaller Bulgarian content creator points out similarities between their videos

Singapore YouTuber Sneaky Sushii has apologised after a smaller content creator called him out for apparent similarities between their videos.

Bulgarian creator Toni Vesdream posted a video on Mar. 13 titled “A Big YouTuber Stole My Work?”, in which he compared one of his videos with Sushii’s upload on the same topic.

Vesdream posted his video in March 2025, while Sushii uploaded his a few months later in August.

Similarities extended beyond topic alone

The videos in question were about a niche Japanese horror film that had courted controversy due to how closely it resembled a snuff film.

Vesdream said he clicked on Sneaky Sushii’s upload out of curiosity, because he had covered the same subject about a year earlier in his own video, "The Horror Film So Real, the FBI Investigated It".

He had spent around three weeks conducting research for it, he said.

This included reading part of a book and using Japanese search engines to locate source material.

Vesdream said he was initially excited to see how a larger creator had approached the same topic, especially given Sneaky Sushii’s significantly larger following of around 700,000 subscribers compared to the roughly 2,000 subscribers he had when his own video was released.

However, he later began noticing similarities that he said went beyond simply discussing the same subject.

Similarities

In Vesdream's video, he mentions how graphic content cannot be shown directly on YouTube.

Instead, he explains what happened to the victim through a comedic “dramatic reenactment” in which he pretends to stab a gingerbread biscuit.

Sushii’s version took a slightly different, but similar, approach.

After a similar preamble that the footage cannot be shown on YouTube, he used a hand-drawn illustration to show what happened to the victim.

Vesdream noted that both segments appeared in a similar part of the video, and were functionally identical as well.

Imitation is the best form of flattery

Vesdream said that at first, the similarity felt almost flattering.

"You know they say, that great minds think alike, and for me, as a small YouTuber, this was a huge moment of validation."

But he noticed that some other videos also bore similar narrative progressions and turns of phrase, he said.

Despite raising the similarities, Vesdream said he did not believe the situation amounted to a creator “blatantly and shamelessly” stealing his work.

“I don’t own the copyright of an idea,” he said, adding that creators covering the same topic would naturally overlap in some areas.

Vesdream also urged viewers not to send hate, saying he hoped creators could support one another rather than “being sneaky behind each other’s backs”.

Another YouTuber highlighted overlaps

But the issue gained wider attention after another YouTuber, AugustTheDuck, reviewed both videos and argued that the similarities extended beyond structure.

He called it possibly "the most blatant damn form of plagiarism [he has] ever seen on this platform".

Among the examples he highlighted were both videos describing a scene from a film as resembling a “private home video”.

They also both referred to a location in the film as a slaughterhouse.

AugustTheDuck concluded:

"There is a very big difference between taking inspiration and just covering the same topic, and stealing somebody’s video."

Sneaky Sushii's apology

Following the criticism, Sneaky Sushii apologised and acknowledged that he should have credited the sources he used.

“This was a lapse in judgment on my part, and I sincerely apologise to Toni," he said.

He added that he had drawn "huge inspiration" from the latter's video, and had already privately apologised to Vesdream via email.

“Moving forward, all sources will be cited, and credits will be given for any source material I use during my research."

The creator also changed the title of his video from “This Horror Film Was So Real, People Reported It To The Police” to “This video sucks”.

Checks by Mothership found that the video is no longer accessible on the channel.

Vesdream later posted an update under his own video, saying that Sushii had reached out privately via email, taken full responsibility, and committed to properly crediting sources in future.

He added that there were no hard feelings and that he accepted the apology.

“We all make mistakes,” he wrote. “What’s important is to learn from them.”

Top images via ToniVesdream/YouTube, SneakySushii/YouTube