Disney ends deal with YouTube star over anti-Semitic stunt
NEW YORK (AP) – Disney’s Maker Studios and Google’s YouTube are distancing themselves from a top YouTube star after he made jokes construed as anti-Semitic and posted Nazi imagery in his videos.
Felix Kjellberg, known online as PewDiePie, has the most popular YouTube channel, with more than 53 million subscribers.
Disney says he crossed the line with some of his videos. In one video, from January, Kjellberg shows two Indian men he paid to hold up a sign that says “Death to all Jews.” Kjellberg said the video was meant to demonstrate how far people will go if they get paid to do something.
Maker Studios says he went too far.
YouTube has canceled the second season of Kjellberg’s reality show “Scare PewDiePie.”