The “stinger” at end of his apology video, regardless of whether or not he intended it to be humorous, pretty much killed said apology. I don’t care for Pewdiepie and, aside from this infamous roasting* [Content Warning: PWDP shouting “Rape”, grotesque innuendos, etc.] that supposedly he learned from and the “apology” video, I don’t watch his videos. Just thought I’d share this though…
One of the guys who helped create said roasting (i.e. “slowbeef”) wrote an article on Polygon about this whole notion of YouTube scandals and why major players, like Pewdiepie, seem to invite them or rather taking a risk than just adhering to their MCN and ultimately their subscriber base. One of the reasons is just the demand for uploads in general as slowbeef points out:
Most uploaders begin to believe they have to flood the site with videos for a chance one goes viral or to reach subscribers who aren’t notified or to make up for losing them. And the numbers do go up when you start to do that, leaving many to believe it’s the only reliable way to keep relevant.
You need ad revenue if you want to make a living talking over video games, which means views and that means uploads. Or at the very least, you need brand deals which means you need clout, which means you need subscribers, which means views, which again means uploads. Most pros create at least one video a day, and it’s a punishing schedule. Some create as many as three videos a day.
Here’s slowbeef on Pewdiepie’s failed joke:
PewDiePie ends up looking like the villain because he uses the old South Park “haha anti-Semitism!” routine, but the whole joke is malformed. People are quick to dismiss it as merely an edgy throwaway when it could’ve been meant as a commentary on paid online services. But who can blame them? As it stands, the joke is really hard to read. It doesn’t land cleanly at all.
You can actually imagine, if you like, PewDiePie doing a stand-up set and having comedian friends tell him at the bar that “man, you’ve been leaning on the Nazi stuff a bit lately.” Or an audience groaning at a smaller venue, which signals to him it’s time to do a rewrite. That’s why there are workshops, writing sessions and smaller venues and drinks with fellow comedians. You have to fail often when the stakes are low to learn how to get the big wins. It’s a process.
Online personalities can’t really know that they’ve lost the goodwill of the audience, or that the material will gain mainstream anger if they’re famous, until it’s too late. They’re already forming tomorrow’s video without even seeing the storm that’s coming.
Even worse is that there is this air of “everyone gets sooo offended” and, while that’s a whole different conversation, some people use the reverse-outrage to mask the fact that they fucked up a joke and have to pay a price. Or they blame others for pointing it out.
I wouldn’t doubt that Pewdiepie’s excessive use of shock humor caught up to him and he’s just making bad jokes–both as in cheesy and culturally insensitive ones–to garner more subscribers without realizing that he just normalized nazism amongst those with bigoted attitudes. Again I don’t watch his videos for the most part so I don’t know whether or not he genuinely believes this–aside from that “stinger”–or if it’s part of his brand, which I personally don’t get in the slightest. The layout on his channel plus the thumbnails don’t convey much information as it is and his about page (at time of posting) literally has nothing on it.
I’ll never understand mainstream YouTube culture and I’m fine with that. I’ll just keep liking better videos from my favorite YouTubers and donate to their Patreon(s) if I am able.
