First I like to address that I hold no hate or absolute love for PewDiePie. I used to be a fan of him fivev years ago but I slowly lost interest in his content. I didn't stop watching PewDiePie because of these recent jokes. I stopped watching way before that. Now with that out of the way, let me inform you on what's been happening lately with YouTube's biggest creator, PewDiePie.
Pewdiepie vs. The Wall Street Journal
PewDiePie, also known as, Felix Kjellberg, has been a content creator for YouTube for six years and has been dealing with media articles putting his career in question. He's been able to "just deal with it" for most of the time until an article and video created by The Wall Street Journal found that some of his recent jokes on his channel have been "anti-semitic." As the Wall Street Journal publishes their findings, companies like Disney and YouTube Red, associated with Kjellberg had to terminate their contract with him.
The journal's article ignited so much response that Kjellberg uploaded his response video toward the Wall Street Journal and other news media like it. He apologizes for the jokes being offensive toward people and promises he'll learn from this mistake. He also understands why Disney and YouTube Red did what they had to do. Kjellberg then makes a claim that The Wall Street Journal coaxed Disney and YouTube to drop their connections with him in order to purposely attack his image to try to discredit him, decrease his influence and decrease his economic growth.
Could this be a libel case?
In media, libel is when a media outlet knowingly publishes lies against a public figure to hurt their public image; therefore, this could be a libel case by definition. However, it won't be an easy case for Kjellberg to win.
He would need to prove what his true personality and beliefs are and would need proof that The Wall Street Journal was intentionally being negligent in finding out the actual truth. It would be hard to prove that the Wall Street Journal was knowingly sabotaging his career with Disney, Google and YouTube if they set out the defense of them believing their report was the truth. I didn't have to dig around Twitter for long to find out that they already stated they "stand by with the reporting.
So, unfortunately, PewDiePie probably won't win this libel case but in my opinion, he can if he really wanted to. That's the thing though, he doesn't want to sue The Wall Street Journal. He already has a lot of money and an apology from them I think wouldn't satisfy or fix this situation. All he wants is to make a statement against media who would intentionally attack famous YouTubers or public figures.
YouTubers rejoice with PewDiePie's statement
There were many reactions to this event but the strongest response was the overwhelming support from the YouTube community. Here are some of the highlights.
Ethan Klein, also known as h3h3 productions, made this statement reflecting every YouTuber's attitude toward all of this.
YouTube star, Philip DeFranco's response to PewDiePie's tweet mentioning The Wall Street Journal trying to get an interview for a chance for Kjellberg to "defend himself."
YouTuber, Jon Jafari, showed his support through his everlasting humor.
The "Expose Yourself Challenge"
To show more support in PewDiePie, Simply Nailogical and Clisare created a parody of The Wall Street Journal's video "exposing" PewDiePie.
Simply Nailogical commented that her intention was to show support and to find funny elements in current events. She does not support anti-semitism in any way and says "it is a humorous interrogation of the sometimes over-dramatized and sensationalist practices of the media."
My overall opinion
After doing hours of researching and thinking, I personally think that PewDiePie was a victim of being libeled by The Wall Street Journal. However, I don't agree with the argument of all media being like this or that this is what media is turning into. Kjellberg even agrees in his recent video that there are quality articles out there and this is very sad and embarrassing moment for the media. I hope that in the future, journalism will gain more respect and that Kjellberg or anyone like him won't have to be abused by the media due to money.
Thank you so much for reading and comment down below on your opinion or stance on this! As always, I love hearing different opinions.
