You have probably heard about PewDiePie, the famous YouTuber. If you have, you must be wondering why do people hate him. If this is the first time you’re hearing about him, you will certainly know him now. In either case, keep reading to find out more about PewDiePie.
Source: Instagram
Everything There is to Know about PewDiePie
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg was born on October 24, 1989, in Gothenburg, Sweden. He started his YouTube channel in 2010 and in only three years, he became very successful, mainly due to his his video gaming and commentary content. Hence, he got to the top of YouTube’s list of most-subscribed channels. In fact, whenever PewDiePie gave a game a positive review, sales skyrocketed. Consequently, he was named one of ‘The World’s 100 Most Influential People’ in 2016 by Time.
Then, together with T-Series, an India’s largest music label and movie studio channel, they played King-of-the-Hill in both viewer and subscription rankings. This has a new meme, called ‘Subscribe to PewDiePie.’ This current year, his videos collectively surpassed the 20-billion-views benchmark.
Source: Instagram
Why is PewDiePie Getting So Much Hate?
Back in 2012, PewDiePie got a backlash for his rape jokes. However, he offered what seemed a genuine apology and stopped making light of sexual assault. Then, only a couple of months that Time named him one of ‘The World’s 100 Most Influential People’, he got into a kerfuffle with Twitter. In fact, he removed his official verification status, he created another account where he claimed that he lost his Twitter creds due to suspected relations with ISIS. Even though he was only trolling, the story went viral and Twitter shut down PewDiePie’s main feed. All of this encouraged a very popular #SavePewDiePie hashtag trend.
Then, at the beginning of 2017, PewDiePie posted a video of two Indian men holding up a sign reading, ‘Death to All Jews.’ Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg hired the men on Fiverr in an aim to discover what people are capable of doing for money, but he didn’t expect that the men will take him up on the gig. Even though he explained it as a dare, the Wall Street Journal started looking into his channel and found out that there have been about nine incidents involving anti-Semitic references and/or Nazi symbolism. Consequently, PewDiePie lost some major partner, like Disney.
Source: Instagram
That same year, during a video game live-stream session, he dropped the N-bomb and it wasn’t his first time. In 2018, PewDiePie publicly supported a controversial YouTuber, who worked on misogynistic, homophobic, racist, and anti-Semitic themes. Due to this, the YouTuber got 15,000 new subscribers in less than 24 hours.
Consequently, PewDiePie became the unofficial mascot of the Alt-right, a loosely connected and somewhat ill-defined far-right movement.
Nevertheless, only a month ago a mass-murderer started off his live-stream rampage with the phrase, ‘Subscribe to PewDiePie!’ The mass-murderer’s statement caused a lot of confusion, especially in the mainstream media. PewDiePie condemned the attack but he got a backlash and his Alt-Right discussion caught fire on platforms.
Source: Instagram
Is PewDiePie to Blame for Spreading Bigotry?
PewDiePie has never intentionally called for violence. Moreover, he seems to regret his past actions, which he called ‘idiotic.’ Nevertheless, he has over 91 million subscribers on his channel and definitely has a huge influence on children, as well as, adults.
Source: cheatsheet.com
