Disney severs ties with YouTube star over anti-Semitic clips

A YouTube star is paying a heavy price for his anti-Semitism. 

Maker Studios, a Disney division that had a business partnership with YouTube star PewDiePie, has severed ties with the channel following its posting of several violently anti-Semitic posts.

Felix Kjellberg, a 27-year-old Swede known as PewDiePie, who has amassed 53 million subscribers, is behind the offensive clips.

His success had brought him multi-million-dollar deals from YouTube and the Walt Disney division.

Since August, PewDiePie has posted at least nine videos that include anti-Semitic jokes or Nazi imagery, according to a review of his channel by The Wall Street Journal.

In one of the latest offensive clips, posted on January 22, Kjellberg showed a man dressed as Jesus, saying, “Hitler did absolutely nothing wrong.”

On Monday, after the Journal contacted Disney about the videos, the entertainment giant said it was severing ties with Kjellberg.

“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,” said a spokeswoman for Maker Studios.

Kjellberg has recently removed several of the anti-Semitic clips.

On Tuesday, addressing reports that were “pointing to my videos and saying that I am giving credibility to the anti-Semitic movement, and my fans are part of it as well for watching,” Kjellberg wrote on Tumblr that he does not endorse anti-Semitism and that he does not belong to any such movement.

He claims he paid people to send him the offensive content to see how distasteful they would be willing to act for money, he said, claiming that he shared those videos in order to show them to his followers.

“This originated from a video I made a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to show how crazy the modern world is, specifically some of the services available online. I picked something that seemed absurd to me—That people on Fiverr would say anything for 5 dollars,” Kjellberg said.

“I think it’s important to say something and I want to make one thing clear: I am in no way supporting any kind of hateful attitudes. I think of the content that I create as entertainment, and not a place for any serious political commentary. I know my audience understand that and that is why they come to my channel.  Though this was not my intention, I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive,” he conceded.

“As laughable as it is to believe that I might actually endorse these people, to anyone unsure on my standpoint regarding hate-based groups: No, I don’t support these people in any way,” he stated.

This failed attempt at humor will cost him $14 m. a year, according to reports.

By: World Israel News Staff