In February 2017, Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg lost his YouTube Red show Scare PewDiePie,
his partnership with Disney affiliate Maker Studios, and his membership in YouTube's premium
ad service due to some particularly bad behavior.
But with over 50 million subscribers and two licensed PewDiePie games, his cultural clout
remains unparalleled in the weird world of YouTubers, even though he continually crosses
the line.
So, just how many times has PewDiePie gone too far?
Bad slogans
In January 2017, PewDiePie hired two men via Fiverr to film themselves holding a sign that
bore a terrible slogan.
PewDiePie claimed the video was a social experiment to prove that people will do anything for
money.
For their part, the two men in the video — who did not speak English or understand the sign
— were banned by Fiverr, apologized, and were appalled by the whole event when they
discovered what had happened.
As an amateur social experiment, the whole thing was a failure on every level.
But that wasn't even the worst of it.
He joined as a joke
Despite a long history of philanthropy and his attempts to foster a kinder, gentler Bro
Army, PewDiePie can't seem to get away from his own stupid actions.
In August 2016, PewDiePie's Twitter account was temporarily suspended when he jokingly
tried to join a group, arguably the worst organization currently in existence.
New York Magazine's Brian Feldman wrote following the incident,
"The influential gamer, who has more than 47 million YouTube subscribers, would have
certainly given a serious boost to the group's social media operation, which heavily leans
on the web to address followers, recruit new members, and spread propaganda."
The stunt cost PewDiePie's Twitter account its authenticated status and permanently linked
his name to the group in Google searches.
It did not, at the time, cost him his partnership with Maker Studios.
Assault jokes
For a time, PewDiePie was for making jokes that trivialized assault.
Echoing the disturbing trend elsewhere in gaming, PewDiePie would shout threats at characters
in video games.
To be more outrageous, he even made a tasteless music video for a song called "Shut Up (and
Sleep with Me)."
Following an outcry from some of his fans, he cut back on the jokes and issued an apology
— just one of the many he'd have to make throughout his career.
Pay for play
In 2016, PewDiePie was involved in a "pay-for-play" scandal after he took money from Warner Bros.
to make videos about the video game Shadow of Mordor.
According to FTC regulations, PewDiePie had to clearly disclose that he was being paid
to make a video about the product.
PewDiePie and his supporters argued that he'd provided adequate disclosure by including
a line saying as much in the video description, except the disclosure appeared after the jump.
In this instance, Warner Bros.' failure to disclose was far more egregious, in the opinion
of the FTC — but that didn't stop the lawsuit.
Casual namecalling
In his most recent debacle, PewDiePie uttered a bad word while streaming Playerunknown's
Battlegrounds on YouTube Gaming.
The online backlash didn't take long, with detractors and supporters already drawing
battle lines on social media.
Another apology quickly followed.
One reaction to the latest incident that's been widely circulated is that of game developer
Sean Vanaman, who announced on Twitter that his company, Campo Santo, would take steps
to block PewDiePie from further use of their content in his videos, saying,
"I am sick of this child getting more and more chances to make money off of what we
make.
He's worse than a closeted weirdo: he's a propagator of despicable garbage that does
real damage to the culture around this industry."
Kotaku also points out that on top of every other scandal PewDiePie has found himself
in of late, this isn't even the first time he's used the slur on YouTube.
If other developers follow Campo Santo, that could potentially cause a game over for PewDiePie's
perplexing fame.
Let's Talk About Money
In PewDiePie's video "Let's Talk About Money", he tells the story of working at a hot dog
stand on a "student loan," and not being able to "afford a proper computer"... except the
YouTube star was never without a multi-million-dollar safety net.
Kjellberg's pauper narrative conflicts with actual reality.
His mother is Chief Information Officer of KappAhl, a $500 million company, and his father
is a corporate executive as well.
For Kjellberg to liken himself to a working class hero misrepresents the facts on a fundamental
level.
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