Disney Drops PewDiePie and YouTube Distances Itself After Reports of Anti-Semitic Videos -
The Disney-owned Maker Studios and YouTube have pulled away from PewDiePie, one of the video platform’s most popular stars, after a report
that he had posted several videos featuring anti-Semitic imagery.
“Maker Studios has made the decision to end our affiliation with him going forward.”
On Tuesday, a YouTube spokeswoman said the service was canceling the release of “Scare PewDiePie Season 2,” a sequel to an original YouTube series, and dropping PewDiePie from Google Preferred, a program
that offers advertisers access to its most popular channels.
One of the videos identified by The Journal featured a man dressed as Jesus Christ saying, “Hitler did absolutely nothing wrong.” In another, Mr. Kjellberg hired two men to make and display a sign
that said, “Death to All Jews,” according to The Journal.
Maker Studios said on Monday that it had severed ties with the star, Felix Kjellberg, a Swede better known by his YouTube alias PewDiePie, while YouTube said on Tuesday
that it had canceled the release of a coming series and dropped him from a premier advertising program.
In December, Forbes magazine estimated that Mr. Kjellberg had earned $15 million in the year
that ended last June, thanks largely to his book, “This Book Loves You,” and his series on YouTube Red, Google’s paid subscription service, which offers ad-free viewing among other benefits.
“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 said in a statement on Monday.