Did Druski Go Too Far With His CTE Skit? Why The Internet Is Getting Really Sensitive About It

At this point, making the internet uncomfortable is practically part of Druski’s job description. Born Drew Desbordes, the comedian went from shooting skits after moving back home with his mother to becoming one of the biggest comedy stars the internet has produced. His impressions of overzealous frat boys, shady record executives, TSA workers, megachurch pastors and just about every oddly specific person you’ve encountered in real life helped turn him into a social media heavyweight. Coulda Been Records eventually became an entire franchise, while appearances alongside Drake, Jack Harlow and other stars pushed him further into the mainstream. This summer, he even became the youngest person ever to host the BET Awards. BET chronicled his unlikely rise from Instagram skits to the BET stage, while the Webby Award credited his content with generating more than a billion views.

Part of what has made Druski so successful is that almost nobody is safe from becoming a character. His exaggerated Kyle Rogger character pokes fun at a certain type of suburban white guy; his viral megachurch pastor sketch went after prosperity-preaching church culture; and Coulda Been Records has spent years lampooning rappers, music executives and aspiring artists. Even his 2026 BET Awards hosting gig included jokes about everything from celebrity culture to religion. The formula usually works because Druski takes something people recognize, turns every stereotype up to 100 and lets the audience decide whether to laugh or feel attacked. Complex recently ranked some of the comedian’s most memorable sketches, and controversy has almost become another ingredient in the recipe.

However, his newest video stepped into much darker territory. Posted Wednesday, August 26, under the caption “Athletes get Concussions & LOSE THEIR MINDS,” the high-production sketch follows Druski as fictional football star Ray Price, whose life begins unraveling after repeated blows to the head. Price takes a violent hit that sends his helmet flying before the skit jumps through increasingly disturbing episodes: erratic behavior, banging his head against a wall, a high-speed police chase in a gold Ferrari, an encounter at a woman’s home, a short-lived rap career and finally a press conference where he struggles to remember basic information before his handlers shut down questions about his brain health. The parody appears to borrow from or reference recognizable incidents involving players including Tua Tagovailoa, Antonio Brown, Richard Sherman, Ray Rice, Kadarius Toney and Cameron Skattbo, among others — which made the jokes feel much less fictional to football fans.

That realism is exactly where Druski lost some athletes. Former Broncos safety and Super Bowl champion T.J. Ward ripped the sketch during an appearance on Speakeasy, arguing that CTE is treated differently from virtually every other serious disease. “You wouldn’t make fun of someone with cancer, dementia, or AIDS,” Ward said while explaining why he couldn’t laugh along. Former NBA All-Star Michael Redd also criticized Druski, writing that CTE is one of the things professional athletes fear most and saying, “You don’t build a bit around that.” Former NFL offensive tackle Kyle Long joked that Druski’s CTE skit had landed on plenty of players’ bad sides, while sports medicine physician Brian Sutterer simply asked, “We’re supposed to laugh at this?”