The YouTube creator had uploaded multiple videos containing anti-semitic jokes and remarks since last month.
[dropcap size=small]F[/dropcap]amous comedian George Carlin once remarked that “I like to find out where the line is drawn, and then drag the audience across the line with me and make them happier for the experience.” However, there are some lines that should never be crossed. YouTube content creator Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, learned this the hard way after posting several videos that were filled with anti-semitic jokes and due to this Disney-owned Maker Studios dropped the Swedish YouTube star from its roster.
“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. Maker Studios has made the decision to end our affiliation with him going forward.”
Maker Studios quickly moved into damage control after PewDiePie released a video where two people in India were paid via a crowd-sourcing platform for holding up a sign that read “death to all Jews” by releasing the statement above. Google, who owns YouTube, responded to this video by removing the advertising from the video. Unfortunately, PewDiePie took it another step further and defended his actions calling it a ‘joke’.
PewDiePie is the most popular YouTube creator with nearly 14.7 billion views amassed in total from all of his videos and has been known to release videos that fall on the side of controversial. In a post on Tumblr he said, “I was trying to show how crazy the modern world is, specifically some of the services available online. I picked something that seemed absurd to me — that people on (crowd-sourcing platform) Fiverr would say anything for 5 dollars.” He later added, “Though this was not my intention, I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive.”
It’s rather hard to believe that PewDiePie understands that these jokes were ultimately offensive after releasing not one but several videos that contained several antisemitic jokes and remarks. With children having easy access to videos such as this on the internet it falls on the YouTube content creators to be held responsible and keep in mind that way they say can have negative effects.
