Deku's Voice Actor Roasts Sykkuno's Apology, Deletes It

Sometimes a voice actor's best impression is the one they probably shouldn't have done. Justin Briner, the English voice behind My Hero Academia's Deku, posted a video on X reading streamer Sykkuno's cheating apology in a nasally, pleading voice that sounded suspiciously close to his most famous character. The post has since been deleted, but not before Dexerto archived the clip.

Sykkuno, a popular streamer known for gaming content and a carefully cultivated wholesome image, released an apologetic statement on April 16 after accusations of infidelity reached a boiling point. The apology was already getting torn apart online when Briner decided to pile on with his dub. In a follow-up reply, Briner clarified the voice wasn't explicitly Deku but rather a different "twerpish character" based on "the strange streamer." He also added: "ofc I don't condone this, and we beat his ass in the sajam slam," referencing a streamer fighting game event.

The original post's caption read "did my best impression of the streamer," and I'll be honest, the plausible deniability of "that's not Deku, that's just a generic whiny guy" is paper thin. Briner voices one of the most recognizable anime characters on the planet. Posting a dub of someone's public apology for cheating, in a voice that close to Deku, was always going to blow up. The fact that it got deleted suggests Briner or someone around him recognized it crossed a line, even if the impression itself was, by most accounts, pretty funny.

Briner hasn't exactly gone into hiding over it. He's been joking about being sent to "the prison where they send youtubers for high crimes against the internet" and blaming his behavior on the cancellation of the Northernlion Super Cruise. As of April 20, he posted that he's "scheduled to be executed live at the next Mr Beast Games half time show." The whole thing reads like a voice actor who knows the bit landed but also knows the subject matter made it a bad look, and is now splitting the difference between owning it and moving on.