UPDATE: PewDiePie has issued a statement regarding the controversy.
— ????????? (@pewdiepie) September 11, 2019
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Fans were shocked after YouTuber PewDiePie donated $50,000 to the ADL, the same organization that has repeatedly tried to deplatform him.
The announcement occurred during the Swede’s celebration video for reaching 100 million subscribers on YouTube.
“As an additional celebration, I’m donating $50,000 to the Anti-Defamation League, which is an organisation that fights bigotry and prejudice in all its forms,” said PewDie Pie, real name Felix Kjellberg.
The donation caused consternation because the ADL has repeatedly targeted PewDiePie for engaging in “hate speech” and was partly responsible for him losing a sponsorship with Disney.
Thank you, @Disney, for severing ties with #PewDiePie. pic.twitter.com/XE2s8uFKu3
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) February 14, 2017
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The ADL has also repeatedly called for the blanket censorship of YouTubers and ‘offensive’ video content. Last month they released a ‘hit list’ of YouTube channels they wanted deleted and YouTube duly obliged by deleting many of them.
.@YouTube removing 100k #hateful videos is encouraging but the enormous scale of hateful content that remains is unacceptable. While this is a step in the right direction, YouTube must do more to address hate on their platform.
Our recent blog: https://t.co/uEFvrfzk4h
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) September 3, 2019
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Numerous people reacted to the news by claiming that PewDiePie was being blackmailed and had been forced to make the payment in order to save his channel from being deleted.
“PewDiePie literally paid $50,000 to not be called racist anymore,” commented Brittany Venti. “And in turn- he just got so many people in the future censored off of places like Twitter and YouTube.”
Anytime someone gets banned for now on, I'll be sure to say
"Thanks Pewdiepie"— Unsubscribe to Pewdiepie (@BrittanyVenti) September 11, 2019
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“Anytime someone gets banned for now on, I’ll be sure to say “Thanks Pewdiepie,” she added.
Ethan Ralph joked that PewDiePie looked like he had been taken hostage.
Holy shit this looks like a hostage photo pic.twitter.com/aXorKH0uMT
— Ethan Ralph (@TheRalphRetort) September 10, 2019
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“They got to him,” remarked another Twitter user.
“Tell my why he donated money to a corrupt corporation that tried deplatforming him?” asked another.
Many respondents also accused PewDiePie of mass deleting negative comments on his video in an effort to bury the issue.
However, others defended PewDiePie and insisted that rumors of him being “blackmailed” were fevered conspiracy theories invented by 4chan users.
What do you think?
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