PewDiePie: I won't make any more Nazi jokes after Charlottesville violence

YouTube star Pewdiepie has said he wants nothing to do with the far-right ideology after Charlottesville
Jessica Morgan18 August 2017

YouTube star PewDiePie said he will not make any more Nazi jokes after watching videos of the white supremacist protests in Charlottesville.

In his latest vlog, PewDiePie – real name Felix Kjellberg – said he will not make references to fascist ideology after watching footage of the white nationalist Charlottesville rally which took place in the US over the weekend.

He linked the rally to the controversial incident which saw him embroiled in a media storm in February after he was criticised for paying two Indian men to hold up a sign reading “Death to all Jews”.

His latest video titled “I guess this needed to be said” references a post he tweeted during the Charlottesville rally whereby he joked that the protesters had “watched one too many PewDiePie vids”.

He said in reality he is alarmed that he “actually got grouped in with these people.”

He said: “I’m just a guy making jokes on the internet. I have no hate in my heart and I only have hate for hateful people.

“Nazi memes are not even that funny anymore. It’s sort of a dead meme.”

“I thought now would be a good time as any to just say I want nothing to do with these people.

“I don’t think anyone that watches me thinks I’m an actual Nazi, but I know a lot people might still have doubt.”

The February episode saw him dropped from YouTube’s red subscription service and Disney’s Maker network after the footage was found to contain Nazi references and anti-Semitic imagery.

The 27-year-old Swede apologised at the time, saying: “I’m sorry for the words that I used, as I know they offended people. And I admit that the joke itself went too far.”

But he also criticised the Wall Street Journal article calling it “absurd” after implying media reports painting him as a fascist was “nothing but insanity”.

However, Neo Nazi news site The Daily Stormer leapt on the “Death to all Jews” fallout with favourable write-ups, but has since been shut down after it defamed Charlottesville victim Heather Heyer.

PewDiePie has amassed more than 53 million subscribers online with videos watched more than 14 billion times.

His success brought him multimillion-dollar deals from YouTube and Walt Disney Co., which owns a firm that runs Mr Kjellberg’s business.

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