Hey, you know when you stub your toe or somebody cuts you off in traffic and, whoops, you accidentally say something outrageously bigoted?
No, you don’t do that? You’re a decent human being who doesn’t have slurs floating around on the tip of your tongue, ready to spill out whenever you’re frustrated?
Then you’re a better person than the infamous YouTuber named PewDiePie, because he’s once again under fire for bigotry.
PewDiePie is a YouTuber who plays video games while commenting. Some of his “edgy humor” won him a sizable following.
He’s also handsome. That’s the “secret” of being successful on YouTube, just like with Instagram.
(Also, like, in life — it’s not the only way to success, but it sure does help)
PewDiePie’s real name is Felix Kjellberg, but his YouTube moniker has earned him internet fame as well as millions and millions of dollars.
You might think that becoming a millionaire by streaming gameplay on YouTube sounds like a scam or a pipe dream, but it’s supported by ad revenue and sponsorships. And the few who make this tier provide entertainment to tens of millions of subscribers.
But not everyone who becomes rich and famous is a good person. As we are all painfully aware.
Earlier this year, Disney released PewDiePie for his antisemitic “prank” that was deeply disturbing.
See, PewDiePie had hired two men to carry a sign that supported the murder of Jewish people. He claimed that it was a joke.
Obviously, it’s not funny.
Honestly, we’d almost forgotten that PewDiePie still had a following, as people outed him as a racist years ago and we’d pretty much stopped seeing people talk about him.
Maybe now, they’ll really stop talking about him.
This time, PewDiePie didn’t get in trouble for his “edgy humor,” but for what he said while streaming a game.
He was playing and livestreaming a game called PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds. He voiced his frustration while playing, and … it’s pretty awful.
“What a f–king n—-r. Geez, oh my god, what the f–k! Sorry but what the f–k! What a f–king a–hole.”
So he just dropped the literal worst word in the entire English language. The N-word is worse than “f–k” and worst than “moist.”
But apparently, it was just on the tip of PewDiePie’s tongue as a handy insult that he was ready to hurl.
It’s important to understand how video game frustration works in order to truly understand how indefensible PewDiePie’s use of that slur is.
I did my first real peer-versus-peer gaming back in 2008, on a team with my best friend. He and I were on voice chat.
It was absolutely frustrating. I cursed and vocalized my frustration.
Having recently watched a marathon of Kathy Griffin standup, everything that I said while venting my fury sounded like Kathy Griffin’s impression of her mother’s cursing.
That’s kind of funny, but it reflected what had just been on my mind.
Personally, and especially as a white dude from the South, I cannot imagine having a “slip up” like PewDiePie’s.
Honestly, I don’t even like to say the name of that bouncing tiger from Winnie the Pooh. For the N-word to be floating around PewDiePie’s subconscious enough that he’s ready to fire it off by accident is basically unthinkable.
As you can imagine, every corner of the internet not frequented by white supremacists was pretty horrified.
Twitter responded:
“You don’t accidentally say a derogatory term.”
“He’s literal trash.”
“He only apologized because he remembered that he was live streaming and was caught using a word he’s comfortable using in private.”
At least one video game developer announced that they were going to file a copyright takedown notice with YouTube to get footage of their games removed from PewDiePie’s YouTube channel.
Since YouTube streams of games are essentially free advertising for videogame developers, this is a move about principle.
Developers from other video game companies expressed their approval for the move on Twitter.
PewDiePie’s been hemorrhaging fans over the years, but we’re sure that he’ll have his loyalists who want to forgive him. Again.
Or maybe he’s finally reached his breaking point.