PewDiePie is getting a lot of (well-deserved) criticism for this!
The Swedish YouTube star took to his social media outlet of choice on Tuesday to publish an 11-minute-long video of himself and his pet pug reacting to TikTok videos. But the vlogger, whose real name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, went a little too far with one of his cringe call-outs. He even back-tracked and tried to wipe the offending clip from his video — but not before fans caught him doing it!
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So this all started on Tuesday. PewDiePie posted the first version of this now-altered video to his YT account (below):
Among the many TikTok clips he reacted to in the vid was one from a popular social media star named Scarlet May.
In her clip, Scarlet — who is deaf — re-tells a story from when she ordered fast food while using American Sign Language to communicate. In the original TikTok story, which was first posted earlier this month, May recounts how the fast food employee taking the order surprised her by communicating with ASL:
@scarlet_may.1
Very unexpected!
For whatever reason, PewDiePie decided to include that well-meaning story in his round-up clip. And after just a few seconds of watching and reacting, the YouTuber evidently had enough. With his pug on his lap, PewDiePie said:
“No, I’m not listening to this.”
Even worse, the popular vlogger then appeared to use his dog to MOCK Scarlet!!
He picked up the pug’s front paws and wisecracked in a funny voice about how the dog has “the same crazy nails” as May. From there, he used the dog’s paws to appear to mock May’s ASL hand movements, as well. The Swedish star must have known what he was doing was wrong because he deleted the offending clip from his upload. But it still lives online, as Twitter users screen grabbed it and reposted before he could wipe it.
Here is the offending moment from the original YouTube video (below):
Not Pewdiepie making fun of a deaf woman??? pic.twitter.com/sugizTcosx
— ???????????????? (@Iced_Exponet) July 27, 2022
OMG!
Here’s where it gets even crazier: PewDiePie re-uploaded his “TikTok cringe” video without May’s clip BUT he forgot to change the video’s thumbnail! And it still showcased a picture of May!!!
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The thumbnail has since been altered to avoid Scarlet’s image, too. But many social media users noticed the re-upload error before he could make the second change, as well. Not great, man!! All across Twitter, users reacted to PewDiePie’s offensive actions:
“So why is nobody talking about pewdiepie making fun of a deaf black woman?”
“this man has made fun of every demographic that exist and has said every slur possible idk why people are surprised”
“literally don’t get how he has 100mil subs… still confuses me to this day”
“Pewdiepie mocking a deaf tiktok creator for signing in her videos simply because she has long nails… as if the dude couldn’t be any worse”
“Why does anyone still like this dude?”
“Honestly if you still like pewdiepie grow tf up. not only is he racist, he’s now apparently mocking a deaf girl on tiktok who is using sign language”
And Scarlet reacted, too. Opening up about the ordeal in a new TikTok clip about the situation on Thursday, she said:
“[PewDiePie] made a reaction video to one of my TikToks, making fun of my nails, making fun of my signs with his dogs, and, I guess, at one point, mocking my voice.”
Scarlet, who has more than 6 million followers on the social media site, said she’s sadly used to people making fun of her nails while using sign language. The influencer explained:
“I wasn’t surprised. I’m used to it. But a big creator comes on here and puts us a million steps back, so it’s very frustrating. … Because I have to sign to communicate and have long nails, he stopped the video after two seconds and didn’t even listen to the story, and then after that, proceeded to make fun of me with his dog.”
Addressing the controversial YouTuber directly, May also called out his decision to edit her clip out and re-upload the video like nothing happened:
“You don’t get to just mock deaf people who have been struggling for years with people like you and then go about your day.”
Here’s that reaction video:
@scarlet_may.1 Replying to @anethepeach we all make mistakes hopefully he learns from this ???????????? #fyp #foryou
Good for her! And she’s right!!
BTW, in the comments of that new TikTok clip, she slammed PewDiePie even more for the stealth edit which showed he wasn’t taking accountability for his initial unfortunate reaction:
“update: he completely took me out of the video haha good way to own up to things”
Several hours later, the Swede did own up to things — somewhat. In the comments section of his re-uploaded YT video, PewDiePie wrote this about the situation:
“Hey, just to clear a few things up: I edited out the clip with the girl that has the long nails. Had no clue she was deaf, but kinda dumb of me to not realize.. Still watching through the clip I only poked fun of her long nails. The voice I did for my dog is the same voice I’ve given her for years. (edit: ..and making my dog’s paws move was poking at people always dancing or doing some move on tiktok, which is an ongoing theme in the whole video). Anyway honest mistake, my bad”
Hmmm…
He really tried to explain it away. Talk about gaslighting! Reactions, Perezcious readers??
