YouTube Star PewDiePie Dropped by Disney After Reports of Anti-Semitic Videos (UPDATE)

The YouTube star, who has over 50 million subscribers, got in trouble for a series of anti-Semitic videos.

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UPDATE 02/14/2017: YouTube has canceled the second season of PewDiePie's Scare PewDiePie, Varietyreported Tuesday. In a statement, a YouTube spokesperson added that PewDiePie would also be removed from their "brand-safe content" advertising program Google Preferred.

See original story from 02/13/2017 below.

Swedish YouTube star Felix Kjellberg, a.k.a. PewDiePie, found himself in serious trouble after the Wall Street Journal started asking questions about some of his videos.

The videos, some of which have now been removed, date back as far as August. One features people in India unfurling a sign that reads "death to all Jews." Another shows a man dressed as Jesus saying, "Hitler did absolutely nothing wrong." A third includes Nazi imagery, and has Kjellberg dressed up in what appears to be a Nazi soldier outfit. The YouTube sensation has, as a result of these and other clips, become extremely popular on the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer, which has started billing itself as “The world’s #1 PewDiePie fansite.”

Kjellberg posted a response to the controversy on Tumblr, saying that his videos were just "trying to show how crazy the modern world is." He explained that he was trying to show the absurd and extreme things people would do for money on the website Fiverr.

"I think of the content that I create as entertainment, and not a place for any serious political commentary. I know my audience understand that and that is why they come to my channel.  Though this was not my intention, I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive."

Until the Journal article, Kjellberg had a multi-million dollar deal with Disney's Maker Studios. While he is still listed on the studio's website, Disney told the paper that it has ended its relationship with the video maker, who has over 53 million subscribers on YouTube.

Kjellberg rose to fame by making videos sharing his commentary on video games. 

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