PewDiePie cancels a $ 50,000 donation to an anti-hate charity

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PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, said he initially pledged $ 50,000 to the nonprofit, whose primary mission is to "stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all," according to its website, to "put an end to these alt-right claims" against him.

He tweeted (then deleted) his decision on Wednesday. Then came back from his fans – he had somehow been coerced.

Without referencing the ADL by name, the YouTuber said in a video posted on Thursday, he said, "He is a passionate to donate to."

"I made the mistake of picking a thing that I was personally aware of," which is 100% my fault, "he said in the video shared Thursday.

He received the $ 50,000 through his sponsorship with Honey's shopping app. But users questioned why he has noprofit, which has criticized him for supporting anti-Semitic messaging in the past.

"ADL learned about the potential donation from Felix Kjellberg when everyone else did: when he made the announcement," a spokesman for the nonprofit said in a statement to CNN.

PewDiePie's derogatory comments have won him plenty of detractors. Disney cut ties with the star in 2017 after he paid two men to hold that read, "Death to all Jews." Later that year, he apologized for a racial slur in a video. The gunman who killed 50 people in the Christchurch mosque shoots referenced the meme "Subscribe to PewDiePie" during a livestream of killings, which the YouTuber later condemned. It was an attempt to "move on" that incident that sparked the donation in the first place, he had said.

None of that has stymied his fan base. PewDiePie, who typically vlogs about video games and memes, recently reached 100 million subscribers on YouTube, where he's earned the second-highest number of subscribers of any creator.

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