Scump reveals his CoD Operator was scrapped after NICKMERCS controversy

Luca Di Marzo
Scump CoD stream

Top streamers NICKMERCS and TimTheTatman were the first content creators to receive Operator skins in Call of Duty, but they were removed following controversy. Now, a retired pro who’s considered CoD royalty, Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, has revealed his skin was scrapped.

Plenty of celebrities and fictional characters have come to Call of Duty over the years, and following Fortnite’s ICON Series where streamers such as Ninja, SypherPK, and Loserfruit joined as playable skins, Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff and Timothy ‘TimTheTatman’ Betar joined Warzone and MW2 in 2023.

In NICKMERCS’ case, the collaboration did not last long after the Operator skin was pulled from the game following comments that were deemed “anti-LGBTQ.” Shortly after, TimTheTatman asked for his skin to be removed, concluding the disastrous release of content creator Operator skins.

In the aftermath, popular content creator Kris ‘Swagg‘ Lamberson revealed that his Operator skin was axed due to the controversy, and it seems he wasn’t the only one to suffer consequences from the botched release.

During a December 4 Scump stream, the competitive Call of Duty legend read this comment from a chatter: “The Doc is right you should have had a skin in CoD a long time ago.”

Scump then replied by saying: “I mean again, we were supposed to have one, we were supposed to have one last year.”

While Scump doesn’t get into the finer details, his audience quickly deciphered that the Operator skin was likely pulled due to the NICKMERCS and TimTheTatman controversy. One disappointed fan said: “S/O nick and Tim for ruining that lmao.”

Meanwhile, a fan theory began to emerge that claims the scrapped skin sneakily made its way into MW2. The theory ties the King Operator skin that was released with the CDL Champs 2023 bundle to the axed Scump skin, given Scump is widely known as the King of Call of Duty: “I bet it was that ‘king’ skin.”

Others pointed out that given what Scump has done for the Call of Duty community, the retired pro should have been first in line to receive a skin: “As much as I respect nick and Tim, he should’ve been the first consideration for a skin in the first place!”

For more CoD content, check out how MW3 players are celebrating an upcoming Riot Shield change in Season 1, or find out when Ranked Play is coming to the game.