$118,479.83. That is the American Express Business Gold Rewards bill a 9-year-old Minecraft player ran up promoting his YouTube channel on his dad’s company card.
The boy goes by MightyMikePLays67 online. His father, Dave, gave a long update on the channel: he has lost his job and has 30 days to pay the amount. The charge was unintentional, the report said, since the child did not grasp what he was spending.
Dave has taken the job loss in stride. “Jobs come and go,” he said. “I’ve worked my whole life; I’ll find another job… I’ve got two hands, I’m healthy, I’m capable of working. So, if losing my job was the worst that came out of this, I’d honestly probably be okay.” The debt is another matter. He and his wife are now talking about selling their home to cover it.
A joke about 67
Even so, father and son found room for humor in the video. After Mike brought his dad some water, he answered with “67.” Dave asked whether he knew what that meant. Mike said he did not, and suspected it meant nothing. “It’s just something that makes people laugh and smile.”
Dave had his own answer. Sixty-seven, he said, is the age Mike will be when he finally stops mowing lawns, and retirement age for most people. Not for him. “After this situation, apparently, I’m going to be working until I’m like 94.”
No fundraiser, no coin
Dave says he does not want outside help. “We do not have a Mighty Mike coin. We don’t have a 67 coin. We don’t have any coins. No crypto. We don’t have a GoFundMe. We have no fund raising set up.” He has opened a merchandise site with 14 shirt designs that nod to Mike’s misadventures, though only three are on sale for now.
Some commenters called the story a scam or invented. Dave answered by posting a screenshot of the bill, which was later taken down. Others urged him to accept offers of help and talk to major news channels. He is hesitant. “If I sit down with Fox or CNN or whatever, and I tell them my story, what has that changed?” he said in the video. “I’m still living in this reality, and I still have to sort of dig myself out of this hole.” He is unsure he has the energy to speak to a reporter, he added, “but I might, anyway.”
