Disney and Youtube removes Pew Die Pie over a rant

The Disney-owned Maker Studios and YouTube have pulled away from PewDiePie, one of the video platform’s most popular stars, after a report that he had posted several videos featuring anti-Semitic imagery.

Maker Studios said on Monday that it had severed ties with the star, Felix Kjellberg, a Swede better known by his YouTube alias PewDiePie, while YouTube said on Tuesday that it had canceled the release of a coming series and dropped him from a premier advertising program.

The announcements came after The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Kjellberg had posted nine anti-Semitic videos since August.

“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,’’ a Maker Studios spokeswoman said in a statement on Monday. “Maker Studios has made the decision to end our affiliation with him going forward.”

On Tuesday, a YouTube spokeswoman said the service was canceling the release of “Scare PewDiePie Season 2,” a sequel to an original YouTube series, and dropping PewDiePie from Google Preferred, a program that offers advertisers access to its most popular channels.

With 53 million subscribers, Mr. Kjellberg has amassed one of the largest audiences on YouTube by posting clips of himself playing and talking about video games accompanied by humorous commentary.

According to Social Blade, which compiles data on social media, PewDiePie is the most popular user on YouTube. His videos have attracted nearly 14.7 billion views.

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He’ll still likely make at least $7 million this year that we'll include when we calculate our Highest-Paid YouTube List for 2017. That’s because his biggest moneymaker, the advertising on his widely watched YouTube channel, will continue to bank seven digits.

“He would get a check for the rest of his life with his library of content,” one industry insider said of Kjellberg’s YouTube clips, which made him $10 million last year from ads playing during videos, FORBES estimates. “Even if his viewership declined tremendously, there would still be enough that he would generate a meaningful amount of money.”

When traditional stars make offensive or racist comments, they get put in Hollywood jail: studios don’t cast them, brands end endorsement deals and networks take them off air. But since the anti-Semitic clips came to light, his subscriber count has actually grown to some 53.2 million.

It’s a viewership advertisers covet. Gamers like Kjellberg have more potential to monetize their work than other YouTube content creators as their videos are often longer and thus provide more opportunities for advertisements.

Disney And YouTube Red Cut Ties With PewDiePie After Anti-Semitic Posts

Still, his earnings will decline. Advertising will be harder to come by now that Kjellberg is not part of the Google Preferred program, which offers brands access to YouTube channels popular with millennials. According to another industry insider, the cost per viewer of his ads will decrease now that he isn’t part of the program. (Cost per viewer is based on a complicated YouTube algorithm involving engagement, overall viewership and other metrics.)

For a short time, advertisers taking part in YouTube’s general advertisement auction may also choose not to advertise with him, so as to not be associated with his comments.

Such effects are likely only short term. With his following, it is unlikely advertisers will totally desert him. “There were advertisers that sponsored Hitler events during World War II,” says Eric Schiffer, a branding expert at Reputation Management Consultant. “You’ll always find someone lacking morality that is trying to make a buck.”

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