Report: PewDiePie YouTube Series Cancelled Due to Anti-Semitic Posts

[Robert B. Marks]

I just figured out why that video defending him seemed so very, very wrong. It was justifying PewDiePie's actions based on "the context is that he was using it as a joke to make X look antisemitic!" But that's not the point - the point is that he was paying people to advocate genocide IN THE FIRST PLACE. THAT'S the story, and that's why he lost his contract with Disney and YouTube.

Just had to get that off my chest.

 

[MerlinCross]

And now people will rush to defend the poor (poor? more like superrich) special snowflake who is not allowed to make hate jokes.

I find it seriously depressing.

People pick and choose who to defend. Defend them all(even if you dislike them)? Defend none(which makes you look bad)? Defend people we like(Which makes you look hypocritical at times)? Defend people that share our interests(See previous sentence)? Defend people just to spite some other side/person/faction(Which happens a lot these days for everything)?

Pew's gonna be fine, probably won't hurt him in the long run. Hell I didn't even think this WAS a story, so trained to ignore stuff like this. All the 'Drama' on youtube I saw one of those "Pewdiepie racists" vids off to the side and rolled my eyes going "Pff, someone slandering the guy for clicks". Rasicst no, bad taste probably(I haven't watched the vids).

Besides you'd think Disney would be okay with this. I mean I keep seeing how they or at least the man himself is/was/maybe anti semitic. Is that joke/meme/thing still going these days?

 

[Chareater]

Felix, however, was paying people to spread violently antisemitic messages, and even if he isn't a neo-Nazi, and those he paid are just people who would do anything for money, there are very real neo-Nazis out there who might act on that message he just spread.

Nobody is going to think Pewdiepie is being serious.... Don't pull that shit.

 

[Chewster]

-Smerp-

Here is the thing with comedy: it's very easy to be shitty at it. If you're going to make "edgy" jokes without being clever or exposing some sort of societal truth then you're no better than a radio shock jock or that kid in third grade who thought it was funny to yell out "PENIS" in the middle of class. This strikes me as PewDiePie just being thoughtless. I get that his humour is unrefined and kind of stupid but there is a reason no one ever complains about Louis CK's edgy jokes. The man is dedicated to his craft and spends years honing his delivery. This was just idiotic and tactless. You have to be hella sharp to pull this kind of humour off.

Shame so much of today's humour relies on being shocking for the sake of shocking. It can be funny on occasion but I would hope we would aspire to do a bit better. No doubt this will make his a darling of the alt-right though, with all their wailing about "PC culture gone mad" and "muh free speech".

 

[Janaschi]

I always did say PewdiePie was a hack who didn't deserve the ad revenue he made. He essentially pandered to the lowest common denominator of YouTube by making tasteless rape jokes and screaming.

These comments crack me up.

I don't like PewdiePie, either. But I'm not going to insult the man - especially when I'm having to work 2-3 jobs to get by, while this guy, clearly talented, makes millions doing what he loves.

Insult the guy all you want. But then, maybe, you should look in a mirror.

 

[Saulkar]

Everyone is saying different things, thankfully, but humor of this nature can be funny. Assuming it is both in good(?!) taste and lacks any mean spirit.

I do not know if my favourite Jew fits any of those criteria!

 

[faeshadow]

The people screaming "slander!!!!!111onnnnneeeee!" crack me up.

First, the term is libel. Second, there's no libel there. He made an anti-semitic joke. He got fired for said joke. It's not like they made the joke up out of whole cloth. This is a joke he is documented as actually pulling.

As for Disney, what did you people expect? You cannot tell me that a company mainly for kids, like Disney, doesn't have stipulations up the ass pertaining to the behavior of their "talent". And I'm pretty damn sure Pewds knew that, so when he pulled this stupidity, he violated his contract. Bye bye, Pewds.

This is no different from that dumb bint who got fired from Nintendo. If you're working for a family-friendly company that's got a serious hard-on for keeping their image squeaky clean, don't do dumb shit that will piss them off unless you like losing your position with the company.

This isn't hard to figure out.

 

[Janaschi]

I always did say PewdiePie was a hack who didn't deserve the ad revenue he made. He essentially pandered to the lowest common denominator of YouTube by making tasteless rape jokes and screaming.

These comments crack me up.

I don't like PewdiePie, either. But I'm not going to insult the man - especially when I'm having to work 2-3 jobs to get by, while this guy, clearly talented, makes millions doing what he loves.

Insult the guy all you want. But then, maybe, you should look in a mirror.

Yes....."talented."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFbVKL-Meo0

I'm willing to put my biases aside, and understand his accomplishments.

His videos annoy me. His fanatical fanbase annoys me. But you do not get to be a millionaire in that sort of medium, unless you have talent. That is an objective fact: He makes more money than any other Youtuber, and the guy is basically set for life.

You can hate on him all you want. But the facts are the facts.

 

[Janaschi]

I always did say PewdiePie was a hack who didn't deserve the ad revenue he made. He essentially pandered to the lowest common denominator of YouTube by making tasteless rape jokes and screaming.

These comments crack me up.

I don't like PewdiePie, either. But I'm not going to insult the man - especially when I'm having to work 2-3 jobs to get by, while this guy, clearly talented, makes millions doing what he loves.

Insult the guy all you want. But then, maybe, you should look in a mirror.

Yes....."talented."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFbVKL-Meo0

I'm willing to put my biases aside, and understand his accomplishments.

His videos annoy me. His fanatical fanbase annoys me. But you do not get to be a millionaire in that sort of medium, unless you have talent. That is an objective fact: He makes more money than any other Youtuber, and the guy is basically set for life.

You can hate on him all you want. But the facts are the facts.

So is the fact that he makes money by being an obnoxious halfwit who makes tasteless rape jokes and screams. Anyone can do that. Meanwhile there are people on YouTube with actual talent who don't get nearly as many views as he does.

He doesn't have talent, he doesn't deserve the money and views he has, he is by all definitions, a hack.

At this point, I'm not really interested in discussing further. Not because of you, mind you - it's just, as it currently stands, I'm going into the realms of protecting a guy who doesn't even need my protection, and likely doesn't even know that I exist.

So... really, what's the point.

In the end, you have your opinions, and I knew from the start that I was unlikely to sway them; my only intent, was to show that there is another side to the same coin.

 

[Robert B. Marks]

Felix, however, was paying people to spread violently antisemitic messages, and even if he isn't a neo-Nazi, and those he paid are just people who would do anything for money, there are very real neo-Nazis out there who might act on that message he just spread.

Nobody is going to think Pewdiepie is being serious.... Don't pull that shit.

I hate to point this out, but neo-Nazis and white supremacists held a gathering in Washington after Trump's election wherein they shouted "Hail victory! Hail Trump!" while doing a Nazi salute.

(Source: http://billmoyers.com/story/mr-11-21-white-nationalists-heil-victory-police-crack-down-dakota-pipeline/ )

And then there's this: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4917913,00.html

So yes, there are people who can and will take that message seriously.

 

[MerlinCross]

I always did say PewdiePie was a hack who didn't deserve the ad revenue he made. He essentially pandered to the lowest common denominator of YouTube by making tasteless rape jokes and screaming.

These comments crack me up.

I don't like PewdiePie, either. But I'm not going to insult the man - especially when I'm having to work 2-3 jobs to get by, while this guy, clearly talented, makes millions doing what he loves.

Insult the guy all you want. But then, maybe, you should look in a mirror.

Yes....."talented."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFbVKL-Meo0

I'm willing to put my biases aside, and understand his accomplishments.

His videos annoy me. His fanatical fanbase annoys me. But you do not get to be a millionaire in that sort of medium, unless you have talent. That is an objective fact: He makes more money than any other Youtuber, and the guy is basically set for life.

You can hate on him all you want. But the facts are the facts.

So is the fact that he makes money by being an obnoxious halfwit who makes tasteless rape jokes and screams. Anyone can do that. Meanwhile there are people on YouTube with actual talent who don't get nearly as many views as he does.

He doesn't have talent, he doesn't deserve the money and views he has, he is by all definitions, a hack.

Then, why aren't a few hundred thousand people making that money? I do agree, he is shooting low. But so do most movies, tv shows, and other media these days. Why else is "Fast and the Furious" still going. Or why the Transformers movies made money? Call him a hack all you want but he has enough sense to know how to play to the youtube sorting system and his fanbase. There's something that keeps making people tune into him and the several other silly youtube channels(Have you seen some of the Cosplay Spider Man videos on the side of some of your own? Like wtf?). But they do put in the work to actually have a decent recording set up, upload schedule, and other factors that do behind the scenes make it more 'job' like than we think.

Now I dislike Pewdiepie but he has something that we don't which is why he's on Youtube and why he's big. Is it good? Is it bad? Is he a hack or have a knack? End of the day I don't what.

 

[kenu12345]

Everyone is saying different things, thankfully, but humor of this nature can be funny. Assuming it is both in good(?!) taste and lacks any mean spirit.

I do not know if my favourite Jew fits any of those criteria!

Oh shit, Game Grumps advocating genocide!!!!! THIS MUST BE STOPPED SKDAHGKASDJLGH
But yeah people are overreacting to this and I really can't help but feel its due to the subject of the libel. The 'evidence' was obviously cherry picked and edited to seem like he was (the one joke where in context he was making fun of people calling him a nazi by dressing up as one a pretty clear example) and just standard jokes you see from people like IDubbs or the Game Grumps. I find the people conflating this with him advocating genocide are being silly

 

[Jamcie Kerbizz]

.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

you wrote smth on internets and thought it was funny, riiiiight?

I don't hate him, I am disappointed in him though.

 

[Jamcie Kerbizz]

Felix, however, was paying people to spread violently antisemitic messages, and even if he isn't a neo-Nazi, and those he paid are just people who would do anything for money, there are very real neo-Nazis out there who might act on that message he just spread.

Nobody is going to think Pewdiepie is being serious.... Don't pull that shit.

I hate to point this out, but neo-Nazis and white supremacists held a gathering in Washington after Trump's election wherein they shouted "Hail victory! Hail Trump!" while doing a Nazi salute.

(Source: http://billmoyers.com/story/mr-11-21-white-nationalists-heil-victory-police-crack-down-dakota-pipeline/ )

And then there's this: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4917913,00.html

So yes, there are people who can and will take that message seriously.

Robert,
these people act like that, because otherwise they get no publicity (and rightfully so). Problem is alt right figured out that they can freely troll old media and social media like that and get what they really wanted at the expence of 'useful idiots' (oh and that term applies to both sides here).

They did exactly same now with PDP in this whole situation. Do you really think, that this comedian was 'secretly' supporting neo-nazis and now /gasp it got out?
Or perhaps, lets use our brains and notice
that neo-nazis use, yet again opportunity to troll the f*&ck out the situation, gain spotlight, gain some support from confused people, who while intuitively, correctly defending PDP will also start defending and supporting them... Because that's what happens when people get pressured and feel assaulted and go on full out defensive. Lines get blurred when it comes to people on our side and get very distinct when it comes to separating 'us' from 'them'. Basically they abuse the oldest known group behaviour and gain traction via foe of my foe is my friend mechanism.

tldr;
By falsely accusing people and blowing out of proportion figures of speach they used, to tag them alt-right or nazis you actually help to resurrect the movement. All that is needed is for these bastards to show up, show support and proclaim they will help fight off this injust (and that is true) attack. While personas like Trump or PDP by the end of a day will not turn into neo-nazis, some of the crowd involved in all this, will. Due to personal injust experience delivered to them by idiots(ignorants) who wound up whole false accusation campaign and bashed anyone that opposed.

 

[Jamcie Kerbizz]

you wrote smth on internets and thought it was funny, riiiiight?

I don't hate him, I am disappointed in him though.

Mate, ofcourse. But if Gibson just showed up and told you 'hey that was a low blow' I'm sure You'd followed that with, sorry didn't mean anything bad.

In similar fashion most of poking fun at someone or something goes. You don't really mean any harm and if you aren't attacked for your actions and accused of some outreaching evil intentions you'd be very quick to aplogise if you see you hurt someone.

Apparently things change when politics, money and power is involved. And honestly that's something to be outraged about. Not few words ment as a joke.

 

[Kwak]

this guy, clearly talented...
....But you do not get to be a millionaire in that sort of medium, unless you have talent....

'Talent' usually applies to creativity and skill in an art form.
Business acumen and a skill for taking advantage of media delivery platforms, ad revenue, and the manipulation of people's tiny minds is something else. Though I guess you could say he is 'talented' at that.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Mate, ofcourse. But if Gibson just showed up and told you 'hey that was a low blow' I'm sure You'd followed that with, sorry didn't mean anything bad.

No, I don't think I would. I'm not afraid of calling people out on their bullshit.

 

[Jamcie Kerbizz]

Mate, ofcourse. But if Gibson just showed up and told you 'hey that was a low blow' I'm sure You'd followed that with, sorry didn't mean anything bad.

No, I don't think I would. I'm not afraid of calling people out on their bullshit.

Well I wish I could say 'good for you'. Instead I'll just mention that extremist are people with short memory and no self awarness. Tolerant people on the other hand are these who remember and don't try to whitewash their own past experience.

Only time will tell under which category you classify once you grow up

 

[Robert B. Marks]

Felix, however, was paying people to spread violently antisemitic messages, and even if he isn't a neo-Nazi, and those he paid are just people who would do anything for money, there are very real neo-Nazis out there who might act on that message he just spread.

Nobody is going to think Pewdiepie is being serious.... Don't pull that shit.

I hate to point this out, but neo-Nazis and white supremacists held a gathering in Washington after Trump's election wherein they shouted "Hail victory! Hail Trump!" while doing a Nazi salute.

(Source: http://billmoyers.com/story/mr-11-21-white-nationalists-heil-victory-police-crack-down-dakota-pipeline/ )

And then there's this: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4917913,00.html

So yes, there are people who can and will take that message seriously.

[snip]
tldr;
By falsely accusing people and blowing out of proportion figures of speach they used, to tag them alt-right or nazis you actually help to resurrect the movement. All that is needed is for these bastards to show up, show support and proclaim they will help fight off this injust (and that is true) attack. While personas like Trump or PDP by the end of a day will not turn into neo-nazis, some of the crowd involved in all this, will. Due to personal injust experience delivered to them by idiots(ignorants) who wound up whole false accusation campaign and bashed anyone that opposed.

Here's the thing, though - he WASN'T falsely accused. Regardless of if he was doing it to be edgy and funny (and failed miserably), or if he was secretly a neo-Nazi who was trying to sneak a violently antisemitic message out, he DID pay people to hold up signs advocating violence against Jews, and he DID put that on his channel. That he framed it as a prank does not change these facts.

You also need to keep in mind that Disney and Google (who owns YouTube, last I heard) are very large multinational corporations, and it is highly unlikely that they would take a move like this without first running it through legal - after all, the last thing they want is to be successfully sued for a couple of million dollars for lost revenue. So, while the executives who started the process may not have read any further than the initial articles, the legal department would have had to go to the source to do their due diligence. So the decision to drop him probably had relatively little to do with the newspapers publishing some articles that missed some context (deliberately or otherwise), and a lot to do with legal looking at the original videos and saying "You're right - we need to drop this guy."