YouTube Star Pewdiepie Churns Anger Online by Withdrawing $50,000 Anti-Defamation League Pledge

PewDiePie, the most-followed YouTube creator, has put himself at the center of controversy again [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

PewDiePie, the most-followed YouTube creator, has put himself at the center of controversy again after withdrawing a $50,000 donation to the Anti-Defamation League, a group that fight anti-Semitism and bigotry. The creator, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, announced plans to make the donation Tuesday, when he showed off the YouTube Red Diamond Creator Award he received for reaching 100 million subscribers. But on Thursday, Kjellberg called the pledge a "mistake" and withdrew it under pressure from some of his fans.

Kjellberg has courted controversy before with moves considered anti-Semetic. In 2017, he infamously used Fiverr to hire two men in Sri Lanka to hold up a sign reading "Death to all Jews" and paid another man to dress up as Jesus and say "Hitler did absolutely nothing wrong." Kjellberg apologized and deleted the videos, claiming he was trying to prove people would do anything for money. But during the mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, the gunman told those watching his live-stream to "subscribe to PewDiePie."

The YouTuber specifically mentioned Christchurch in a statement about the ADL pledge on his Twitter page. "I'm not ok with this situation any longer and I've felt responsibility to make changes," Kjellberg wrote in a now-deleted tweet.

Kjellberg also claimed that his pledge "doesn't make sense to everyone, especially since they've outright spoken against me," adding, "I wanted to show publicly that I can move past it and move on. I think that it's important, this just isn't my fight anymore."

In his video on Thursday, PewDiePie claimed he "didn't know a lot of things that surfaced throughout this whole thing about the charity" and was pulling the donation.

"I made the mistake of picking a charity that I was advised to instead of picking a charity that I'm personally passionate about," Kjellberg said. "Which is 100 percent my fault."

Kjellberg said he will still donate $50,000, which he received through a sponsorship from Honey, reports The Verge. He has yet to announce where he will donate the money.

As for the ADL, a representative for the group told The Verge they were not aware of Kjellberg's plans until after made the announcement.

"ADL learned about the potential donation from Felix Kjellberg when everyone else did: when he made the announcement on his channel earlier this week. We have not received any communication from him beyond that," the rep said.

PewDiePie's latest actions were widely criticized on Twitter.

Photo credit: John Lamparski/Getty Images

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