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YouTuber Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg withdrew a $ 50,000 pledge to an anti-hate group, which he had dedicated as a means of eliminating past accusations of racism and anti-Semitism, after the blame of his fans.
the Swedish Vlogger had pledged funds from a sponsorship deal to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a nonprofit organization that fights anti-Semitism. But he apologized to fans, who were developing conspiracy theories for which he had been pressured to make a donation, in a video posted Thursday.
"I made the mistake of choosing a charity that had been advised to me instead of choosing a charity that I personally love," Kjellberg said in the video. "Which is 100% of my fault."
Kjellberg, whose channel exceeded 100 million subscribers in August, has sparked controversy in the past for publishing anti-Semitic jokes, videos, and Nazi images. In 2017, Disney abandoned PewDiePie as a sponsor after a story revealed that he had posted nine videos on offensive speeches, including one in which he was paying two men to brandish a sign stating "Death to all Jews ".
It has also been adopted by right-wing extremists, including the gunman Christchurch, a New Zealand gunman who killed 51 people in a mosque while streaming and asked viewers to subscribe to PewDiePie.
Kjellberg withdrew some of his videos as a result of the shooting in Christchurch, claiming in a statement that he had acknowledged that some of his jokes were "ultimately insulting" and that he felt "absolutely disgusted" that the alleged armed man mentioned it. The donation dedicated to the ADL was seen as the last effort that he made to stand out from the far right hate speech, but his fans were not happy.
"All this incident shows is that at least some of his supporters have an anti-Semitic attitude and they were strong enough to change his course. What appeared to be a public relations opportunity to soothe some of his past incidents, "said Matt Rivitz, of Sleeping Giants' social media activism organization.
The controversies around Kjellberg highlight the problems that YouTube faces with extremism on the platform, Rivitz said. The company was criticized in June for failing to remove vlogger Steven Crowder from the platform after years of anti-gay abuse against video journalist Carlos Maza. Meanwhile, a group of YouTubers LGBTQ is suing YouTube's parent company for censorship censoring their content and inciting volatile behavior.
"YouTube has a problem of extremism regardless of this particular incident," Rivitz said. "They have proven time and again that they care more about the commitment and the price of the ads than the liability, which is why advertisers have such difficulties."
YouTube did not respond to the comment request. The ADL said that she had not heard from Kjellberg directly about the donation.
"ADL learned that everyone had donated to Felix Kjellberg: when he made the announcement on his channel earlier this week," he said in a statement. "We have not received any communication from him other than that."
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