For the people who have been in a coma for the past few weeks, you have missed a major scandal involving mega internet superstar and YouTube Jesus Felix Kjellberg a.k.a. Pewdiepie. So here how it went down. Pewds made a video about a website named Fivrr that, by giving five dollars they will do anything you want. While discussing the company, he decided to make a couple of jokes by having two people holding up a sign saying Death to All Jews, subscribe to Keemstar and having a guy dress up as Jesus say Hitler did nothing wrong. Funny? Not according to Wall Street Journal who saw this and decided to make a story accusing Pewds of being a nazi. This has sparked outrage and led to probably one of the biggest internet celebrity scandals of the year, so far.
The scandal has led to the company he was signed with, Maker Studios who is owned by Disney, to drop him, the cancellation of his upcoming show on YouTube Red, and YouTube to demote him by removing his premium ad service. Pewds have been silent for a few days until he made a video addressing the video and apologizing for the joke.
“I'm sorry for the words that I used as I know they offended people, and I admit that the joke itself went too far,”
He continues on to say:
"I do strongly believe that you can joke about anything, but I also believe that there's a right way and not the best way to joke about things. I love to push boundaries, but I would consider myself a rookie comedian and I've definitely made mistakes like this before. But it's always been a growing and learning experience for me. And it's something that I actually learn to really appreciate. And I think this whole situation has definitely been that for me, and it's something that I'm going to keep in mind moving forward."
Is anybody in the wrong? Are things being too PC? Is Pewdiepie a nazi? This scandal, and whole ordeal has been an example of certain media outlet sensationalizing certain things just to cause a scandal and most importantly to get views and clicks. For those who don't know what sensationalism is, it's basically when media takes something and completely run away with giving bogus and untrue stories just for attention. It is unethical and goes against journalistic morals. Not all media do this and this isn't a caution to distrust all media outlets. I am however shocked that out of all places, Wall Street Journal is responsible of this.
Pewds is of course not a nazi, unless he is a part of some secret club and that's a probable as me winning the lottery. He did however got himself in this situation and Wall Street Journal saw an opportunity to pounce and they did just that. As for Disney and YouTube, they did want was logical and you can't be really mad at that as they saw a potential problem and scandal and protected themselves and their money. It what corporations do.
The question is now what is to be done after the interwebs have shitted itself and threw it at the nearest fan? Well, Pewdiepie did what he was suppose to do. He acknowledged the issue with his joke and apologized and set the story out. He should also be aware that this will not be the last of it and there will be a target on his back. I think he has learned a lesson not to give people ammunition to attack. As for Wall Street Journal, they did what they sought to accomplished, not what he said as a attack to get him, but get their story and get their views. Other news sources who do nothing but sensationalize will be out to do the same and how this thing exploded will give just enough reason to do so.
What are your thoughts?
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