(JTA) — The Swedish YouTube sensation known as PewDiePie recommended a video channel that features anti-Semitic content.
PewDiePie — his real name is Felix Kjellberg — has more than 76 million subscribers, making his channel among the top three most popular on the video platform. His audience tends to be younger.
In a video published Sunday, Kjellberg recommends several YouTube channels that he enjoys watching, saving special praise for E;R, which often includes anti-Semitic, sexist, homophobic and cruel language in his videos.
E;R gained 15,000 subscribers in the wake of the PewDiePie shout-out, which linked to the channel, according to the Verge. The person who runs the channel has uploaded anti-Semitic content, and on the right-wing social media platform Gab has openly discussed the “Jewish Question” conspiracy theory, according to Right Wing Watch.
Kjellberg specifically mentions E;R’s Death Note video, which uses actual footage of the moment at last year’s far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virigina, when a car drives through a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring 20. The video mocks the dead woman.
PewDiePie has been criticized for his recommendation by Right Wing Watch and fellow YouTubers, including Hasan Piker, host of the popular The Young Turks channel.
In February 2017, Disney and YouTube distanced themselves from PewDiePie after he broadcast a video of two South Asian men dressed in green loincloths holding a sign reading “Death To All Jews.” The video was viewed more than 6 million times before it was removed by Google, which owns YouTube.
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