PewDiePie has been racist and anti-Semitic on his YouTube channel that now boasts more than 100 million subscribers. But on Wednesday, he said he donated $50,000 to the Anti-Defamation League because he feels a “responsibility to make changes.”
It’s perhaps his most significant step toward trying to make positive changes after years of controversy. But his charitable action isn’t sitting well with some of his alt-right, a loosely tethered strain of white nationalist users who troll online, audience. In fact, some viewers believe the ADL somehow has blackmailed the YouTube star into giving away his money.
In a Twitter message on Wednesday, PewDiePie wrote that the Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand, during which the gunman who killed 51 people shouted out the “Subscribe to PewDiePie” meme, greatly affected him. The incident made his alt-right ties impossible to ignore, but it also led PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, down a path of realization.
In part, he blamed the media after “years” of “misrepresenting headlines.”
“Previously, it hasn’t bothered me much, I know who I am,” PewDiePie wrote. “But after the Christchurch travesty a few months ago, my own clash with [mainstream media] was manipulated as a tool for destruction. I’m not OK with this situation any longer and I’ve felt responsibility to make changes.
“Making a donation to ADL doesn’t make sense to everyone, especially since they’ve outright spoken against me. I wanted to show publicly that I can move past it and move on. I think that it’s important, this just isn’t my fight anymore.”