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YouTube said it had canceled the second season of the
comedian's reality show, "Scare PewDiePie," and taken his
channel, which has some 53 million followers, off its premium
advertising service.
"We've decided to cancel the release of 'Scare PewDiePie' season
2 and we're removing the PewDiePie channel from Google
Preferred," a YouTube representative told Hollywood trade
publication Variety on Tuesday.
Disney's Maker Studios unit, which owns the channel, told the
Wall Street Journal on Monday that it was severing its ties with
PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, after an
investigation by the newspaper turned up nine videos featuring
Nazi imagery or anti-Semitic jokes.
"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 Maker Studios spokeswoman
told the Wall Street Journal.
PewDiePie was among the most followed stars on YouTube, and his
videos have been watched collectively more 14 billion times,
according to the website. In 2016, he was on Time's magazine's
list of the world's 100 most influential people.
In a recent stunt, he paid two people in India to hold up a sign
that read "death to all Jews" and then responded to it with
criticism while terming it a joke.
Kjellberg, 27, defended his content in a Tumblr posting over the
weekend, saying he did not endorse hate-based groups.
"I think of the content that I create as entertainment, and not
a place for any serious political commentary," he said. "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."
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
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