Swedish YouTuber, Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, known online as PewDiePie, became the first individual YouTube creator to reach 100 million subscribers on his
gaming channel on Aug. 24.
Kjellberg 100 million subscriber celebration wasn’t without controversy. Back in 2017 The Wall Street Journal published an article stating that Kjellberg had posted nine videos to his Youtube channel containing anti-Semitic jokes or Nazi imagery. Including a video where Kjellberg paid people from a freelance service website, Fiverr, to hold up a sign saying “Death to all Jews.”
Kjlellberg has since
expressed regrets about the
videos and has removed them from his channel.
After Kjlellberg reached his subscriber milestone he announced he would be donating $50,000 to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish
non-governmental organization.
Fans then accused the
Anti-Defamation League, of
coercing Kjellberg into donating the money.
Kjellberg since retracted the donation and said he made the mistake of not picking a charity he was personally passionate about.
In the past, the youtuber has donated to other charities. Such charities include Charity: Water, which brings water to people in need.
Despite the controversy, PewDiePie has engaged watchers for years and students at Bucks enjoyed watching his journey and videos.
20-year-old Josh Makai from Levittown, business major at Bucks, said he believed that PewDiePie is pretty much the definition of a YouTuber.
“He has tried many different ways to make content. He made mistakes like all YouTubers do and he’s even being kid friendly now because of ad monetization; he’s the best,” said Makai.
Makai has been following Kjellberg since 2011, the start of the YouTuber’s career.
Kjellberg filmed himself as he reached 100 million subscribers. He is now ranked the most
influential digital figure.
Sandy Ritterson, a 22-year-old resident of Croydon majoring in psychology at Bucks, said, “It’s truly amazing the status he achieved. He isn’t my cup of tea since I’m not into gaming, but the network he created for himself is amazing.”
Ritterson continued, “He influences many with videos due to his millions of views, and the revenue he brings in per video is very impressive alone. I’m excited to see what he has in store next.”
While he is the second channel to reach 100 million subscribers, Pewdiepie is the first individual creator on YouTube to reach this status. Kjellberg, and the Indian music label, T-Series, battled to reach 100 million subscribers. T-Series reached the milestone first.
Last year Kjellberg’s channel grew greatly, with almost half his subscribers today joining during this time.
The young YouTuber reacted to his 100 million subscriber award in a video titled, “Unboxing 100MIL YouTube AWARD” video with a humbled response. “I know a lot of people wanted a custom reward but I don’t care,” he said.
He continued with a smile on his face, “Of course thank you YouTube, where would I be without you.”
Many other YouTubers
congratulated Kjellberg on Twitter such as beauty guru James Charles, fellow gamer Sean McLoughlin, known online as Jacksepticeye, and YouTube itself.