New York - Walt Disney’s Maker Studios cut ties with
Felix Kjellberg, the YouTube star known as PewDiePie, and the video-streaming
service removed his channel after he posted videos with anti-Semitic content.
"Although Felix has created a following by being
provocative and irreverent, he clearly went too far in this case and the
resulting videos are inappropriate," Maker said in a statement.
"Maker Studios has made the decision to end our affiliation with him going
forward."
Kjellberg didn’t immediately respond to a request for
comment.
PewDiePie’s channel is one of the most subscribed on
Alphabet’s YouTube service, bringing in millions of dollars in advertising and
partnership deals for the Swedish celebrity. While he’s an important figure in
video-gaming culture, Kjellberg is also one of the rare YouTube personalities
to cross over into the mainstream. TMZ cameras have followed him around in Los
Angeles and late-night talk hosts such as Stephen Colbert have welcomed him as
a guest.
YouTube decided to remove Kjellberg’s channel from its
Google Preferred service and cancelled the release of Scare PewDiePie Season 2,
the company said in an e-mail Tuesday. The service says it prohibits content
that violates its guidelines on hate speech.
WARNING: May be graphic:
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that PewDiePie
had posted nine videos with anti-Semitic jokes or Nazi imagery since August,
though the Swede took some of them down subsequently.
YouTube had banked on Kjellberg as one of the marquee
names in its YouTube Red subscription service, which offers original programs
such as “Scare PewDiePie,” a reality-adventure comedy series that had been
renewed for a second season.
Kjellberg made about $15 million last year as YouTube’s
highest-paid star, Forbes magazine said in December. He had more than 53
million subscribers to his main channel on YouTube as of late Monday.
Kjellberg has run afoul of big tech services before.
Twitter Inc. briefly suspended his account last year after he posted a profile
picture that could be viewed as obscene. Kjellberg made matters more confusing
by claiming, in jest, that he had been suspended because he had joined the
Islamic State.
The popularity of stars like Kjellberg among young
viewers is a principal reason Disney paid $675 million for Maker Studios in a
deal struck in 2014. Disney has been a direct partner with Kjellberg, with
Maker co-creating a YouTube network called Revelmode to showcase PewDiePie
videos and related programming. The YouTube star’s behaviour is another
headache Disney has encountered with Maker, which has lost senior executives as
Disney has attempted to retool it.