Disney dumps YouTube star PewDiePie over anti-Semitic videos

Disney cut ties with YouTube’s most watched blogger PewDiePie for posting several videos containing anti-Semitic remarks and Nazi references, the Wall Street Journal says.

The 27-year-old Swede, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, is known for posting humorous clips to his more than 53 million followers on YouTube.

“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,” a spokeswoman for Maker Studios, the Disney division that had partnered with PewDiePie, tells the Journal.

PewDiePie, who had editorial independence under the terms of the arrangement with Disney, reportedly paid two Indian men five dollars to hold the banner reading “Death to all Jews” while they laugh and dance in the January 11 video.

https://twitter.com/KEEMSTAR/status/831326976426311680

“I was trying to show how crazy the modern world is, specifically some of the services available online,” Kjellberg said in a Tumblr blog post on February 12.

“I picked something that seemed absurd to me — that people on Fiverr would say anything for 5 dollars,” referring to a website that helps freelancers receive part time work.

The Journal said PewDiePie had posted nine videos that display anti-Semitic jokes and Nazi references since August.

— AFP