The guy has plenty of money from it, regardless of whether he kept it or not. He didn't want the attention so he got rid of the source.
The amount of people at my school saying it was taken down because they copied mario is infuriating. Also, the story about the kid killing his brother over it; If you search it on google, the second result is it explaining that it's likely a hoax. I have no idea why this is what annoys me most and not the other bullshit that I hear everyday.