Too big to fail
Disney and Maker studios have cut ties with YouTube star Pewdiepie (Felix Kjellberg) entirely on the grounds that several of his videos have featured anti-Semitic content, including two Indian men that Kjellberg paid to hold up signs saying “Death to all Jews.” Maker explained “Although Felix has created a following by being provocative and irreverent, he clearly went too far in this case and the resulting videos are inappropriate.”
YouTube, who is relatively more lenient than Disney, soon thereafter cancelled his YouTube Red show “Scare Pewdiepie” and removed him from the safe-content “Google Preferred” advertising program.
Kjellberg defended himself on Tumblr, saying, “I was trying to show how crazy the modern world is, specifically some of the services available online, I picked something that seemed absurd to me…I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive. As laughable as it is to believe that I might actually endorse these people, to anyone unsure on my standpoint regarding hate-based groups: No, I don’t support these people in any way.”
The videos containing the content are no longer available, but anyone who saw them would clearly be able to tell he is not endorsing such ideas. That hasn’t stopped people from overreacting though. He recently starting doing a lot of collaboration with his friends Ethan and Hila Klein of h3h3 Productions, but surely some people will just tell you he befriended them to avoid the racist tag.
Fans needn’t worry; your bro isn’t going anywhere. When you have 53 million followers and get several million views on each video you put out, none of this stuff is going to affect you much. Why? Because despite what you or me or anyone thinks of his content, there are millions upon millions who like what he says and does, including occasional shock humor and controversial content that is not particularly family-friendly.
You cannot come between that as much as you may want to. In fact, the more you tell them not to do something, the more they rebel and push back. Especially when it’s nothing worth getting so upset over. Just like Elvis, just like rock and roll, just like video games.
Disney drops YouTube star PewDiePie over anti-Semitism [BBC Business]
