The Swedish-born boy is the star of Google's video platform with 53 million followers and annual revenue exceeding $15 million
A laugh will bury you. Or rather that's what is happening to the famous YouTuber PewDiePie after some videos posted containing jokes about Jews and considered by many as discriminatory and anti-Semitic. Disney has ceased all collaboration with him and now YouTube Red will close his channel.
The whole discussion was born last January 11 when the YouTuber posted some videos containing several jokes against Jews. Later, in a statement in the Wall Street Journal, Disney wanted to break off any relationship with PewDiePie, born Felix Kjellberg. Disney had a commercial collaboration with the Swedish-born boy through Maker Studios. It is not the first time that the boy has let himself go to pro-Nazi or anti-Semitic jokes, but this time was the straw that broke the camel's back. And after Disney, YouTube decided to stop its programming on the premium version of the service.
Data on PewDiePie
The choice for YouTube Red was certainly painful. At the time, the guy was the main star of Google's subscription service ($10 per month). In fact, the YouTuber is followed by more than 53 million users and in 2016 was the platform's highest-paid star with more than $15 million in earnings. His YouTube show is called "Scare PewDiePie" and was about to launch its second season. Felix's page on the platform is still there but it no longer has ads to generate earnings and it's unclear if Google will decide to remove it altogether or if only an interim measure will be implemented. The guy didn't return The Wall Street Journal's call to give explanations or explain his reasons but used Tumblr as an outlet. "I just wanted to show the insanity of today's web," Kjellberg said, "where all you have to do is give people five dollars and they'll say anything. The boy is referring to a group of people who in one of his disputed videos held a banner that read, "Death to all Jews."