Steve Kovach February 14, 2017 at 06:48AM
YouTube is breaking up with one of its most famous stars after it was discovered that he posted videos with Nazi and anti-Semitic content in some of his videos.
YouTube has canceled its YouTube Red original show starring Felix Kjellberg, also known as PewDiePie, following a similar move by the Disney-owned online video network Maker Studios Monday.
A YouTube spokesperson confirmed the move to The Verge. Business Insider has asked YouTube for comment. We've also reached out to Kjellberg for comment.
Disney ended its relationship after The Wall Street Journal asked the company about Kjellberg's videos. The WSJ found nine videos produced and starring PewDiePie with anti-Semitic or Nazi content.
Kjellberg's show, "Scare PewDiePie," was a YouTube original accessible through the company's subscription service YouTube Red. The show was about to have its second season premiere. YouTube is also removing Kjellberg from Google's preferred advertising program, which helps the platform's most popular personalities attract bigger advertisers.
Kjellberg's personal YouTube page remains live, but some of the controversial videos no longer have ads running against them.
This is a big blow not only to Kjellberg, but to YouTube itself as it works to drive subscriptions for YouTube Red, which costs $9.99 per month and offers an ad-free experience along with original programming. YouTube Red needs the leverage of giant stars like Kjellberg to attract more paying users.
Kjellberg is the highest-earning YouTube personality, reportedly bringing in $15 million in 2016. He has over 53 million subscribers on his YouTube page. He became famous by posting videos of himself playing video games with goofy commentary.
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YouTube cuts business ties with PewDiePie, one of its biggest stars, over anti-Semitic videos (GOOG, GOOGL) from Business Insider: Steve Kovach
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