YouTube and Disney sever ties with PewDiePie over anti-Semitic videos

YouTube and Disney have cut ties with influential Swedish YouTube star PewDiePie after he posted several videos that were deemed anti-Semitic.

Disney’s Maker Studios, which owns the channel, told the Wall Street Journal it was severing its ties with PewDiePie after an investigation by the newspaper turned up nine videos featuring Nazi imagery or anti-Semitic jokes.

Following Disney’s move to distance itself, YouTube also removed his channel from its premium advertising service and cancelled the release of his upcoming series.

“We’ve decided to cancel the release of ‘Scare PewDiePie’ season 2 and we’re removing the PewDiePie channel from Google Preferred,” a YouTube spokesperson said.

PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, is best known for his wacky video game content, and last year he was named on Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.

The 27-year-old’s channel is the most popular on YouTube, collecting 53 million subscribers and amassing more than 14 billion views of his videos. His income has been reported to be as high as $15 million a year.

“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,” a Maker Studios spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal.

In a recent stunt, Mr Kjellberg paid two people in India to hold up a sign that read “Death to all Jews”.

The payment was made using Fiverr — a freelance service website that describes itself as “the place for people to share things they’re willing to do for $5”.

Mr Kjellberg responded to the criticism by saying the videos were a joke and saying he did not think “they would actually do it”.

The millionaire YouTuber also defended his content in a Tumblr post over the weekend, saying he did not endorse hate-based groups.

“I think of the content that I create as entertainment, and not a place for any serious political commentary,” he said.

“I know my audience understand that, and that is why they come to my channel.

“Though this was not my intention, I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive.”

Fellow YouTubers weighed into the drama, with vlogger and filmmaker Casey Neistat posting a video of his thoughts on “the biggest content creator on YouTube” to his 6.4 million followers.

“In my very best judgement, I don’t think this guy has a hateful bone in his body. I don’t think he’s interested in preaching hate, I don’t think he’s an anti-Semite and I don’t think his intent was to spread hate,” he said.

Mr Neistat, who knows Mr Kjellberg personally, is a self-described defender of free speech “in any capacity” but said that even these jokes were not to his taste.

“I think what this does underscore for YouTubers is that, just like everyone else in the world, you can say whatever you want but at times there will be consequences.”

Reuters/ABC