Is Pewdiepie Being Blackmailed by the Anti-Defamation League?
To celebrate 100 Million Subscribers, YouTube superstar Pewdiepie has announced that he will be donating $50,000 to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Is Pewdiepie being blackmailed by the ADL?
Critical comments are also being hastily deleted from his video, leading to speculation that his comments section is now being moderated by the group. You may be familiar with the ADL as the group that designated Pepe the frog a ‘hate symbol’.
Pewdiepie, real name Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, has been dodging accusations of bigotry, dog-whistling and antisemitism for years now. He was criticised for sharing a video from a YouTube account that also contained ‘hate speech’. Kjellberg insisted that he had no knowledge of this beforehand and apologised profusely.
Another significant controversy was when he paid two Indian men with limited English comprehension on Fiverr to make a video where they held up a sign saying “Death to all Jews” and laughing.
Kjellberg insists that the stunt was just a sick joke and that he doesn’t actually harbor antisemitic views. His announcement that he will be donating $50,000 to the ADL today is perhaps another attempt to stave off the accusations.
There was also the time that he apologised for using the ‘N word’ in a livestream. His list of apologies is becoming almost as numerous as his subscribers.
Part of the reason for the heavy scruitiny is that many of Kjellberg’s subscribers are young impressionable people. This terrifies groups like the ADL who make it their job to police ‘hate speech’, most busying themselves interfering with anybody who doesn’t toe the line. Young people have a tendency to say what they’re thinking without any concern about who might be offended. Many take great pleasure in ruffling feathers, it’s what teenagers do.
The ADL was formed by B’nai B’rith in 1913 following the conviction of prominent Jew and B’nai B’rith chapter president Leo Frank. An officer of the National Pencil Co. of Atlanta Georgia, Frank was found guilty of the rape and murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, a shop floor worker. Frank was later lynched by incensed inmates.
During the Cold War, the ADL maintained espionage operations and created dossiers of political dissidents in the United States, particularly Communists. Now it keeps extensive files on any person the ADL or any of its many informants deem to be ‘agents of hate’.
As the Dave Chappelle saga has shown us, in this day and age you absolutely cannot slay the sacred cow. You cannot EVER say anything tongue-in-cheek that may upset protected groups. The only group open to ridicule, hate and disdain is Cis White Men.
Kjellberg’s net worth is estimated to be approximately $30 million, so $50,000 is chump change to do damage control and maintain public relations. Is it really the public he’s trying to convince? Is Pewdiepie being blackmailed by the Anti-Defamation League? I’ll leave that up to you.