YouTube, Disney Ditch PewDiePie over Anti-Semitic Comments

Megalith

Megalith

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I’m not big on YouTube personalities and actively avoid them, but since this story keeps trending, I guess I will point out that the biggest “sensation” of them all is losing a lot of advertising and support for posting stuff that not everyone thought was funny. If I was making as much money as this guy, I might have done something beyond quirky videos a long time ago. In before “I’ve never heard of this guy until now.”

Disney has cut ties with YouTube sensation Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg after he incorporated anti-Semitic jokes and Nazi references into several of his videos. The move comes after a Wall Street Journal review found that nine of Kjellberg’s videos posted over the last six months featured imagery including swastikas, Nazi salutes, and shots of Hitler. “I was trying to show how crazy the modern world is, specifically some of the services available online,” Kjellberg said.
 
Yeah good luck with that. I'm pretty sure parody laws haven't changed lately and he has a long record of saying things he's not serious about for humor purposes. If I was a judge I would throw this out and say everyone involved is an idiot.
 
I don't like him, but I see nothing wrong with the actions taken.

1) Doesn't send the message Disney backs joke or not so they pull out of a Deal..OK fine.
2) Doesn't send the message Google wants so they pulled "Ads" off the videos but otherwise left them alone.
3) His channel continues to exist and he continues to make money off the rest.

Sounds like Freedom of speech and expression working as intended. He made a joke, some didn't find it funny and it cost him a bit of money and a future deal but didn't cost him his entire career. Seems fine to me.
 
I've been getting into YouTube lately, specifically channels with some sort of actual theme. For example, this dude Techmoan does some pretty cool videos on retro audio tech amongst other things.

But this guy....I will never understand why or how he is as popular as he is. It's just some narcissistic dope spouting whatever comes to his head at the time. Completely baffling.
 
It is the PC world we live in now. Any off the cuff comment will get you terminated instantly at a lot of places. One guy at a old job made a comment about a painting the a black co-worker didn't like. The black co-walker went straight to HR and got terminated the next day. They didn't even give him a chance to explain his side of the story. At my current job management is scared to even confront any minority employee about their lack of work. Anyone white gets written up and then fired if they don't shape up.
 
vegeta535 said:
It is the PC world we live in now. Any off the cuff comment will get you terminated instantly at a lot of places. One guy at a old job made a comment about a painting the a black co-worker didn't like. The black co-walker went straight to HR and got terminated the next day. They didn't even give him a chance to explain his side of the story. At my current job management is scared to even confront any minority employee about their lack of work. Anyone white gets written up and then fired if they don't shape up.
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This was just so important that you had to post it twice, I guess?
 
Sonicks said:
I've been getting into YouTube lately, specifically channels with some sort of actual theme. For example, this dude Techmoan does some pretty cool videos on retro audio tech amongst other things.

But this guy....I will never understand why or how he is as popular as he is. It's just some narcissistic dope spouting whatever comes to his head at the time. Completely baffling.
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He used to game and got a following with the kids because of his cartoon like personality. Now, his videos are completely random clickbait like. I kinda think he might be burnt out and trying to see how much he can do until it implodes.
 
The problem with the guy is something he just can't control and that's .... his age. When I was younger I did and said a lot of shit that at the time I thought was me just expressing my views, myself and or trying to get a laugh or whatever the case may have been. When you get older, you realize that there are somethings you just never do or say. I mean, well you can, but society will not favor you.

Unfortunately for him, he isn't older yet and he just cost himself millions of dollars.
 
Another flash in the pan you tuber beginning to melt down. I hope he saved a lot of the money he earned.
 
tumblr_m4h9d3MI4v1rwcc6bo1_500.gif
 
He really is a complete idiot that will make you lose brain cells. But that said, I did a quick look at some of the "uproar" and he's not really showing antisemitic tendencies or nazi tendencies. (I'm pretty sensitive about that too) he's just trolling the system by word dropping.

Frankly, that also makes him an idiot. But this is a rather epic tempest in a very small teapot.
 
vegeta535 said:
It is the PC world we live in now. Any off the cuff comment will get you terminated instantly at a lot of places. One guy at a old job made a comment about a painting the a black co-worker didn't like. The black co-walker went straight to HR and got terminated the next day. They didn't even give him a chance to explain his side of the story. At my current job management is scared to even confront any minority employee about their lack of work. Anyone white gets written up and then fired if they don't shape up.
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some people would call that reverse racism.

not me. to me it's just plain old everyday racism.

the real kind not that made up petty PC bullshit racism that you see on the news.[/QUOTE]
 
viscountalpha said:
Another flash in the pan you tuber beginning to melt down. I hope he saved a lot of the money he earned.
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He is more then a flash in a pan. He started the entire streaming industry of let's play. He is still one of the top YouTube personality.
 
Master_shake_ said:
some people would call that reverse racism.

not me. to me it's just plain old everyday racism.

the real kind not that made up petty PC bullshit racism that you see on the news.
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I know that's the real truth but people don't want to hear it in the real world. People will always play the victim but if you white then you just need to STFU with your white privilege.
 
tetris42 said:
Yeah good luck with that. I'm pretty sure parody laws haven't changed lately and he has a long record of saying things he's not serious about for humor purposes. If I was a judge I would throw this out and say everyone involved is an idiot.
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Judge... what article did you read, I didn't see anything about a lawsuit? Dekoth-E- said it best.
 
Reading the article I don't think this has anything to do with political correctness.

If you "joke" about something for too long people will begin to realize that is actually who you are and what you think. In this case I think both Disney and YouTube are in the right ditching him because they don't need that association tarnishing their own brands. His own defense for his "joke" is also a big red flag.

You look at any real comedian worth their salt and they will always draw a line somewhere but not this dope. PewDiePie lacks that kind of skill and instead he just showed his true colors too bluntly.
 
Sonicks said:
Reading the article I don't think this has anything to do with political correctness.

If you "joke" about something for too long people will begin to realize that is actually who you are and what you think. In this case I think both Disney and YouTube are in the right ditching him because they don't need that association tarnishing their own brands. His own defense for his "joke" is also a big red flag.

You look at any real comedian worth their salt and they will always draw a line somewhere but not this dope. PewDiePie lacks that kind of skill and instead he just showed his true colors too bluntly.
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I believe the videos in question may have been videos done to troll the change in YouTube policies. A lot of streamers did similar ones to push the boundaries as a backlash against the censorship.

It's worth noting that the summary isn't accurate. Disney sure, but YouTube didn't drop him. He's still one of their stars, they simply disabled ad revenue from those particular videos. He has over 40million followers and billions of views. They aren't going to kick him any time soon, he's a money maker for them.
 
Spidey329 said:
I believe the videos in question may have been videos done to troll the change in YouTube policies. A lot of streamers did similar ones to push the boundaries as a backlash against the censorship.

It's worth noting that the summary isn't accurate. Disney sure, but YouTube didn't drop him. He's still one of their stars, they simply disabled ad revenue from those particular videos. He has over 40million followers and billions of views. They aren't going to kick him any time soon, he's a money maker for them.
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The update at the bottom mentions that YouTube canceled an original show that would have featured him. I don't know.

Maybe all he knew was Nazis and Hitler and that's why he 'pushed the boundries' with that imagery but there are a lot of other 'controversial' topics to choose from if that was his get. Nine videos in six months featuring only antisemitic-related material as the act of defiance towards the policy changes is in very poor taste, and again, is likely his true personality bubbling up.
 
vegeta535 said:
He is more then a flash in a pan. He started the entire streaming industry of let's play. He is still one of the top YouTube personality.
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No he didn't. He didn't even begin getting popular until 2011-2012. I was watching let's plays at least 4 years prior to that.
 
vegeta535 said:
It is the PC world we live in now. Any off the cuff comment will get you terminated instantly at a lot of places. One guy at a old job made a comment about a painting the a black co-worker didn't like. The black co-walker went straight to HR and got terminated the next day. They didn't even give him a chance to explain his side of the story. At my current job management is scared to even confront any minority employee about their lack of work. Anyone white gets written up and then fired if they don't shape up.
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What was the comment?
 
How to become an idiot.
Step one, start out as an idiot.
You know what's effed up about this
Kjellberg will not lose his YouTube channel, which has more than 53 million subscribers, and he can continue to monetize his videos.
Kjellberg is the most popular YouTube star on the planet. His videos have been viewed collectively more than 14 billion times. With such a massive audience came lucrative advertising and business deals, working with YouTube and the Walt Disney Co.
 
"Pewds"

A nickname derived from a nickname which makes me want to do violence. I actually hate this guy's fans, not him. He's just taken advantage of an opportunity his mass of idiot followers allowed him.
 
I watch a lot of YouTube stuff and I've never seen him. What does he do exactly?
 
tetris42 said:
He already earns more money in a year than the vast majority of Americans will in their entire lives. At $61 million networth, I think he'll find a way to scrape by.
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an idiot could have that gone in no time. Look at MC Hammer.

vegeta535 said:
He is more then a flash in a pan. He started the entire streaming industry of let's play. He is still one of the top YouTube personality.
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he didn't start it. People were doing it before him. He was just one of the more well known ones.
 
tetris42 said:
Yeah good luck with that. I'm pretty sure parody laws haven't changed lately and he has a long record of saying things he's not serious about for humor purposes. If I was a judge I would throw this out and say everyone involved is an idiot.
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I'm sorry what? You think this is going to go to court? LOL, for somebody who thinks they know the law, you really don't.

EDIT: Saw your later comment. So I guess you just confused what was happening.
 
Nolan7689 said:
No he didn't. He didn't even begin getting popular until 2011-2012. I was watching let's plays at least 4 years prior to that.
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Hmm, where did you watch those lets plays? Twitch was the big game streaming service (launched 2011) and the livestreams coming before that on JustinTv doesn't really count.

Its probably wrong to claim he started the whole shebang but he was definitely one of the big players when it went popular, whether he had anything todo with it or if he was just lucky is another debate.
 
I'm glad he got kicked. I'm not even remotely PC, especially with regards to my sense of humor. But if you can't understand the world we live in, then I'm not sure you don't deserve to get rich in it.
 
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