Team Fortress 2 Fans Pay Tribute To Beloved Video Maker Who Passed Away

Kitty0706 was a popular YouTuber who made funny videos for nearly a decade. He spent two of those years battling leukemia. Recently he passed away, leaving a community heartbroken. But they haven’t forgotten the laughter he gave them. They never want to forget that.

The news of Kitty’s passing surfaced on Reddit a couple days ago. Understandably, his fans were devastated—especially in the Team Fortress 2 community, given that his most popular videos focused on Valve’s colorful multiplayer shooter. Funny videos like Team Fabulous 2 and the Moments With Heavy series, in addition to videos about heaps of other games:

He was considered by many to be a pioneer of the form, long before Valve’s own Source Filmmaker was even a twinkle in the Team Fortress 2 developer’s eye.

The heartfelt farewell messages didn’t trickle in so much as they surged like water from a busted dam, like hot tears that wouldn’t stop.

But Kitty’s greatest goal was to make people laugh—to unite them through fun and joy—and the hundreds of thousands of people who followed his work got the message. So they decided not only to mourn his passing, but to celebrate his life, his creations—the things he kept fighting to share with people even as cancer ate away at him. Then came an avalanche of wonderful tributes, with many confessing that Kitty was the reason they started making their own videos and art in things like Garry’s Mod and Source Filmmaker.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVjynaWdrgY

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Some people are even collaborating to create tributes that they hope would make Kitty proud.

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You can find countless other tributes on YouTube, some funny, some solemn, some a little of both.

One of Kitty’s best friends thanked everyone, adding his own voice to the chorus of people paying tribute to the man’s (sadly brief) life and works.

And another promised to finish the last project they collaborated on together. One final video:

So let’s take a moment to celebrate Kitty0706. He beat cancer multiple times, and even when it finally took him from the countless people who cared about him, he brought them together one last time. Thanks, Kitty. You are missed.

It’s fucking awful that he had to go, but he had a profoundly positive impact on so many people while he lived. So let’s end with some of his words, with the goals that inspired so many people to follow in his footsteps:

“I didn’t come here expecting to grow such a huge and supportive audience over the past years, and it has been quite the journey since I began uploading my creations in 2007. So sit back, relax, chuckle here and there, munch on that popcorn kernel, because the ride may be a bit on the wild side.”

“Still recovering from A.L.L. Leukemia and a bone marrow transplant, I strive to continue to create content. Why? Because I love doing it. And loving what you do makes you happy.”

Love what you do.