Top YouTuber PewDiePie Cancels $ 50,000 Promise to Anti-Defamation League, Calls It "Error"



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LOS ANGELES – PewDiePie, the most followed individual creator on YouTube, has embarked on a new controversy.

A day after YouTuber, a Swedish national – called Felix Kjellberg – announced that he would donate $ 50,000 to the anti-hate group of the Anti-Defamation League, he reversed his decision and said that his initial decision was an "error". do not "feel authentic."

Kjellberg has been the target of criticism for making anti-Semitic jokes and using racist language in the past. For example, in 2017, he paid two men to Sri Lanka for waving a sign saying "Death to all Jews", as well as a man disguised as Jesus to say "Hitler does not". absolutely nothing wrong. "

After the stunts attracted public attention, Disney's Maker Studios and YouTube broke off their business relationship with him. ADL General Manager Jonathan Greenblatt praised Disney's decision at the time, saying PewDiePie's behavior "exceeded the criteria." Kjellberg removed the offending videos and apologized defending himself by saying that he was just trying to show fools that people are willing to do for money.

On Tuesday, Kjellberg announced his intention to donate to ADL in a video revealing his YouTube Red Diamond Creator Award, a new honor awarded to channels that have crossed the 100 million mark. He stressed that the donation to the ADL "does not make sense to everyone, especially since they've blatantly declared against me" but added, "I think that Is important, it's just not my fight. "

After a series of conspiracy theories circulated among PewDiePie's fans about the reasons for Kjellberg's engagement in the ADL, he said in a video on Sept. 12 that he was no longer donating planned. "I made the mistake of choosing a charity that I was advised to [to donate to] instead of choosing a charity that I personally love, which is 100% my fault, "he said.

He said that in the early days, the ADL donation was seen as a way to dispel "right-wing claims [have] Kjellberg said that after the massive massacres in Christchurch, New Zealand, earlier this year, he felt "the responsibility to do something about it". The attacker during the shooting in two mosques had urged people live from the massacre to "subscribe to PewDiePie".

However, according to Kjellberg, "It really does not seem to me sincere to proceed with the donation at this stage." Kjellberg also said that he "did not know much about what was going on about this charity that did not fit at all, so I understand why people have concerns about it." (He did not specify what "things" he had learned about the ADL.)

The Anti-Defamation League said in a statement: "ADL learned that everyone had made a donation to Felix Kjellberg: when he made this announcement on his channel earlier this week, we have not received any communication from His part."

PewDiePie has gained popularity with his humorous and profane shots on gaming videos and internet culture. Its channel has surpassed 100 million subscribers earlier this year, after a closely followed race with the Indian entertainment conglomerate T-Series (which currently has 111 million subscribers out of the 101 million PewDiePie). The rivalry of the T series had generated the same "subscribe to PewDiePie".

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