‘Nazi Memes Are Dead,’ Declares Man With 56 Million Followers On YouTube
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
You don’t have to understand Internet stardom to respect that it exists and, more importantly, that it is daily affecting the lives of young people with unfettered access to computers everywhere. One of the most famous among these inexplicable beings is PewDiePie, otherwise known as Felix Kjellberg, a Swedish 27-year-old who became famous playing video games online (don’t ask me, ask the children).
Kjellberg, who currently has 56 million followers on YouTube, posted a video to his personal account on Wednesday that directly addressed the Charlottesville white supremacist rally. The video also addressed the February controversy in which Disney, with whom Kjellberg had a contract, cut ties with the star over several anti-Semitic jokes he had publicly made on his YouTube site.
“Believe it or not, I want nothing to do these people,” said Kjellberg.” I have no hate in my heart. I only have hate for hateful people.”
Kjellberg’s response is especially notable because white supremacist website The Daily Stormer, which has been in the news recently for losing its .com status, has publicly declared itself “the world’s #1 PewDiePie fan site.”
Truly a difficult endorsement to bounce back from.
“To be honest, Nazi memes are not even that funny anymore,” continued Kjellberg. “It’s kind of a dead meme.”
Good to know!
Whether for better or for worse, Kjellberg managed to have a sense of humor about being associated with “the world’s #1 most hated people.”
These guys clearly watched one too many pewdiepie vids #charlottsville pic.twitter.com/AARRrMkX7c
— pewdiepie (@pewdiepie) August 12, 2017
“I remember when everything was happening back in February, I was just like, they’re just jokes, there aren’t actual Nazis out there,” said Kjellberg in his video. ” And then I look at [what’s happening in Charlottesville] and I go, oh I see. Yeah. I see. OK. Well.”
Well put, Kjellberg. Well put.
Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott
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