Ninja, popular video game streamer and former“ Masked Singer” contestant, reveals cancer diagnosis
"We are feeling extremely optimistic," Tyler Blevins tells EW.
Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, a professional video game streamer and former contestant on The Masked Singer, has revealed that he has skin cancer.
The gamer, who goes by the name Ninja on YouTube and Twitch, where he's the platform's most popular streamer, shared his diagnosis Tuesday on X (formerly Twitter), saying he's "still in a bit of shock."
"There was a mole on the bottom of my foot that they wanted to remove just to be careful," Blevins wrote. "It came back as melanoma, but they are optimistic that we caught it in the early stages."
He continued, "I had another dark spot appear near it, so today they biopsied that and removed a larger area around the melanoma with the hopes that under the microscope they will see clear non-melanoma edges and we will know we got it."
Alright I’m still in a bit of shock but want to keep you all updated. A few weeks ago I went in to a dermatologist for an annual skin/mole check that Jess proactively scheduled for me. There was a mole on the bottom of my foot that they wanted to remove just to be careful. It…
— Ninja (@Ninja) March 26, 2024
Blevins tells Entertainment Weekly that he remains hopeful and encourages his fans to seek preventative care. "I wanted to use my platform to shine light on the importance of routine skin checkups," Blevins says. "We are feeling extremely optimistic and will keep everyone posted as we chat more with our doctors."
The gamer briefly appeared on The Masked Singer in 2019, popping up in a single episode as Ice Cream and singing Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" and Devo's "Whip It."
At the time, Ninja told EW that he thought the show had made it too easy to figure out who was inside the Ice Cream costume.
"I think that they have never had someone like me on the show, so they needed to make the clues more obvious," Blevins said after he was eliminated. "I knew the kids would figure it out. If anyone knew of me or any of my quirky dances, they would know immediately it was me, which is cool."
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