Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg, just weeks after claiming he was distancing himself from racist humour, has dropped the N word in a live stream.
Kjellberg, owner of the most subscribed-to channel on Youtube, was playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on a livestream when he yelled “What a f***ing n*****! Geez! Oh my god! What the f***? Sorry, but what the f***?”
In the video below, which obviously contains swear words and a racial slur, the moment occurs 30 seconds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J50Mzf1KhJI
It’s jarring, although it’s far from unexpected at this point with Kjellberg cut loose by Disney this year when the company decided to part ways with the controversial Youtuber after another anti-semitic stunt.
Kjellberg’s sizeable fanbase has leapt to his defence, claiming that the racist slur wasn’t meant in a racist way, but Kjellberg himself has yet to issue a statement.
Sean Vanaman, a developer at game studio Campo Santo, has taken to Twitter to talk about how this was the last straw for the company, and that they would be filing a DMCA takedown of Kjellberg’s Firewatch content, in addition to any future Campo Santo game.
"I am sick of this child getting more and more chances to make money off of what we make," said Vanaman in a string of tweets. "He’s worse than a closeted racist: he’s a propagator of despicable garbage that does real damage to the culture around this industry.”
As of today, the Firewatch videos on Kjellberg’s channel have been removed, but it’s unsure if this is due to a DMCA takedown or if Kjellberg was just seeking to protect himself.