Antisemitic symbolism plus Disney does not equal good result
YouTube star Pewdiepie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, was officially dropped by Disney's maker studios following some antisemitic imagery and "jokes" appearing in his videos, not just recently. but also going back to August of 2016. However, recent content was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The breakdown of what led to Disney's decision
According to People Magazine's article on their website (2017), since August 2016 a grand total of nine videos have featured antisemitic content in one way or another -- three of which were posted in January 2017 alone.
The article goes on to state that those three videos have since been removed. One of the most recent offenders from January 11 (prior to its removal) is what appears to have set these events into motion as it featured two Asian males holding a banner that said 'Death to all Jews' while dressed in costume.
People goes on to mention that Felix Kjellberg did address this disturbing trend in his content via a post on his Tumblr. He stated in his post that he thinks of the content that appears on his channel as nothing more than entertainment that is not supposed to include "serious political commentary" within it and that he understands where things might have gotten to the point where said content becomes offensive.
Unfortunately, it appears that his post comes a little too late, as there is more fallout from this than just being dropped by Maker.
YouTube drops 'Scare Pewdiepie' season 2
The Washington Post addressed the situation in a bit more detail and it turns out that not only did Maker Studios drop him from their roster, but YouTube is pulling the plug on "Scare Pewdiepie" season 2 in light of recent findings.
The Washington Post mentions part of YouTube's hate speech policy and one part appears to be what has resulted in their conclusion: "It is generally okay to criticize a nation-state, but not okay to post malicious hateful comments about a group of people solely based on their ethnicity."
A spokesperson for YouTube did go on to comment to The Washington Post that Felix will not lose his channel, nor will he lose his ability to monetize videos.
