YouTube’s biggest creator, Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg, was accused of Anti-Semitism after promoting a controversial channel in one of his videos. Now, he is speaking out about the debacle – and he’s taking issue with the media in the process.
PewDiePie became part of yet another controversy after promoting a series of smaller channels during an episode of ‘Pew News’ on December 9.
One of these channels, going by the handle ‘E;R,’ is notable for featuring Nazi imagery and problematic content – leading to wide speculation that PewDiePie was intentionally promoting an Anti-Semitic channel.
Holy shit Pewdiepie shouted out E;R who legit pushes JQ bullshit on a regular basis and was slipping in dog whistles to the Heather Heyer murder being a heart attack what the fuuuuuuck
— David Sherratt (@discordspies) December 10, 2018
However, PewDiePie claims that such allegations are untrue, arguing that he had no knowledge of E;R’s Anti-Semitic references as stated in a response video uploaded on December 11.
“Obviously, if I noticed that, I wouldn’t have referenced him in the shoutout,” PewDiePie argued. “Not because I have a problem with Nazi references being offensive in themselves, but because I said… that I was going to distance myself Nazi jokes.”
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PewDiePie went on to take issue with the media’s coverage of the scandal, specifically calling out an article written by tech and news outlet ‘The Verge’ for allegedly using incorrect data when citing E;R’s subscriber boost after Pewd’s shoutout.
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The Swede likewise claimed that those unfamiliar with Nazi tactics would be unlikely to recognize the references in E;R’s videos, calling the debacle “ironic.”
“The irony here is that I’m supposed to be the Nazi, but I don’t know any of these goddamn references,” PewDiePie continued.
PewDiePie has since edited his previous video to exclude E;R’s channel from his recommendations, likewise deleting the link to his channel from the video’s description.