PewDiePie Controversy: After YouTube Star Drops N-Word Online, Game Developers Move To Shut Down His Videos
PewDiePie is again generating controversy, with the oft-troubled YouTube star dropping the N-word during a livestream video this weekend and game developers reportedly moving to shut down his videos.
The Swedish gamer, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, achieved the No. 1 spot on YouTube’s Most-Subscribed list, but has also generated quite a bit of controversy including frequent references to Nazis and inclusion of Nazi images in his videos. His latest flap comes after he dropped the racial slur during a livestreaming video.
As the Metro noted, the slur seemed to be unprompted as PewDiePie became frustrated with the game.
“What a f***ing n****r… sorry but what the f***,” he said during the game, before laughing and apologizing to viewers.
The slur sparked an immediate backlash online, with many calling out PewDiePie for so casually using racially charged language and apparently failing to grasp the gravity of the word he used.
And the backlash was more than just angry fans. There were reports that game developers started to use legal rights to send copyright notices that would force him to take down videos that contained their games. One of those claims came from the Firewatch developer, which took its case against PewDiePie to the internet in a very public show of distaste.
Update: PewDiePie's racial slur during PUGB stream spurs Firewatch developer to file DMCA takedowns https://t.co/eBT3B3HcWB pic.twitter.com/hJCkB33lYz
— Game Informer (@gameinformer) September 10, 2017
The creator of Firewatch is filing DMCA to take down @pewdiepie's videos playing it. This is what "social justice" retribution looks like. pic.twitter.com/KXYgWEsEjQ
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 10, 2017
A video of the incident can be seen below, but be warned that it contains some graphic language.
PewDiePie had already stoked quite a bit of controversy earlier this year after inserting a series of Nazi and anti-Semitic images into his videos, including one incident in which he used the site Fiver to pay a group of men in India to hold up a sign that read “Death to all Jews.” Though PewDiePie claimed that the statement was only intended as a joke and a way to point out how people on the site — in which people offer services for $5 — will do anything for money, it generated a significant backlash online.
After the Wall Street Journal wrote a story about PewDiePie’s controversial jokes and images, he was fired by Disney as part of their YouTube arm, Maker Studio.
PewDiePie had an impassioned response, calling out the Wall Street Journal reporter and claiming that the controversial jokes were just that, an attempt at humor from someone who was not a professional comedian. His response was divisive at the time, with many defending him and others claiming that the context was properly given in the article and that there was no excuse for the behavior.
With the latest incident in which he dropped the N-word during a livestream, critics are again going after PewDiePie and saying it makes his defense to the initial controversy seem hollow.
pewdiepie cried about "context" for months. But it's hard to believe him now when he says the N word like a Nazi.
— saint gelawdewos (@saintgelawdewos) September 10, 2017
Despite the growing controversy, PewDiePie has yet to address his use of the N-word beyond the initial apology issued during the livestream.
[Featured Image by John Lamparski/Getty Images]
