"The hatred of PewDiePie is so forced": Fans defend YouTuber after viral tweet clubs him with Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan and more

PewDiePie has received immense praise and support on social media after making an appearance on a meme slamming several YouTubers. The image which he appeared on read - “I ruined an entire generation of teenage boys starter pack."

Netizens took to Twitter stating that though the content creator has been a part of controversies in the past, he has grown tremendously in recent years.

The meme was uploaded by Twitter user @gwencystic. A few other content creators mentioned in the meme included Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, Leafy, TJ Kirk and Sargon of Akkad (whose real name is Carl Benjamin).

All of these content creators have been part of many controversies and have been called out for their questionable statements in the past.

Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg began his career on YouTube by uploading game videos and reviews. A decade later, he started uploading vlog series, comedy and music videos. He went on to become one of the largest content creators on the platform, amassing over 111 million subscribers.

Earlier in his career, PewDiePie raised eyebrows for his unfiltered comments in videos. He joked about r*pe, joining a terrorist organization and has even called female gamers 'Twitch thots.' He has also used racial slurs in the past which has led to a lot of raised eyebrows from the YouTube community. However, the 32-year-old has expressed regret over his past actions.

Netizens support PewDiePie after the latter is slammed on Twitter

The meme went viral on social media and amassed more than 80k likes and nearly 7k retweets. Following this, ardent supporters of the content creator took to Twitter claiming that the YouTuber has changed.

The YouTuber's past controversies explored

The Swedish YouTuber was accused of attempting to evade his taxes. An article written by Input Magazine in 2021 claimed that the content creator was restructuring his company PewDiePie UK Ltd. He was allegedly doing this in order to pay lesser tax to the UK government.

The public figure has also been vocal about his political beliefs. He has been criticised for his past right-wing opinions and anti-Semitic comments. A 2019 article by the New York Times detailed how the YouTuber became a banner figure for right extremists.

The vlogger also shared a YouTube channel with anti-Semitic themes that he claimed he was unaware of. This led to several netizens slamming him for being a Nazi supporter.

The YouTuber was also accused of being a racist. In a now deleted video from 2017, the content creator called another video game rival a racial slur. The gamer immediately realized what he was doing and apologized for his statement.

Almost immediately, though, mainstream media caught on to the incident. This also resulted in the YouTuber losing his sponsors and his YouTube Red series Scare PewDiePie being cancelled.

In 2019, a 28-year-old Australian man live-streamed his murderous crusade in Christchurch, New Zealand. The video ended with him saying “subscribe to PewDiePie.”

These are just a few of the most controversial scandals the content creator has been a part of. However, in recent months, the YouTuber has amassed a fandom which supports him endlessly. His fans recently congratulated him over his move to Japan.

About the author

Karishma is a trending writer at SK POP. With a BA in Journalism, Psychology and Literature, Karishma, who has closely followed the latest internet trends from a young age, found her role at SK POP to be the perfect fit for her professional qualifications and personal interests.

She has nearly 3 years of experience in the industry and has interned with The Hindu and Deccan Herald. In her role at Sportskeeda, Karishma covers a range of topics at the pop division, but she believes her skills as a journalist are best reflected while creating impactful and research-intensive stories. For her, no other step in the writing process is as crucial as fact-checking with multiple sources and accurately conveying facts and data.

Karishma holds deep admiration for artists Luke Jerram and Yoshitomo Nara's authenticity and originality, who are her favorite icons. When not ideating her next story, Karishma can be seen deeply engrossed in a book.

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