Disney and YouTube Drop PewDiePie
/
With 53 million followers, Felix Kjellberg, known as PewDiePie, is YouTube's most popular star, but the video channel and Disney have cut ties with him after an egregious stunt. On the app Fiverr, people are paid $5 to do crazy things, but this time it went too far.
Two South Asian men carried a sign that read, "Death to all Jews." Kjellberg is shown watching the video with his hand over his mouth. A Wall Street Journal report uncovered additional videos showing Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic jokes connected to the YouTube personality. 
YouTube canceled Kjellberg's second season, and Maker Studios, a division of Disney, told Variety: "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. Maker Studios has made the decision to end our affiliation with him going forward."
In a YouTube video, the men who held the saying apologized and pleaded to get back their Fiverr account, which had been suspended. In a blog post, Kjellberg responded to the controversy.
Discussion:
- Did YouTube and Maker Studio do the right thing? Why or why not?
- For Disney, connections to Kjellberg seemed risky to begin with, even for potentially 53 million followers. What do you think?
- What's your view of Kjellberg's response? Do you believe his argument?
