After his initial announcement, PewDiePie retracts his pledge to the Anti-Defamation League following fan backlash.
PewDiePie retracts his initial pledge of $50,000 to a Jewish anti-hate group following fan backlash.
First reported by The Verge, in a short segment attached to the start of the latest video, PewDiePie revealed he’s retracting his pledge to the Anti-Defamation League. The pledge was initially going to be a total of $50,000. However, after fan backlash, he has pulled the commitment and will instead find another charity in its place.
After reaching a record-breaking 100 million subscribers, PewDiePie uploaded an unboxing video of his YouTube Play button award. This partially-sponsored video was where he announced he would be donating $50,000 to the Anti-Defamation League. Fans speculated that he was forced into this choice, forming conspiracies around it.
In his latest video, he retracts his pledge, saying that he didn’t research the charity properly. “I made the mistake of picking a charity I as advised to instead of a charity I was passionate about,” PewDiePie states in the video.
PewDiePie was hoping to take some responsibility for previous issues with antisemitic comments with his donation. He hoped this pledge would distance him from the alt-right movement surrounding him, especially after the Christchurch tragedy’s movement of Subscribe to PewDiePie. However, after hearing about the organization and the previous conflicts with it, he decided against his pledge. In a now-deleted tweet, PewDiePie went on to say that it doesn’t make sense for him to donate to an organization that has “outright spoken against [him].”
PewDiePie promises to give the money to another charity in its place. Whether that will be another Jewish organization or something else entirely remains to be seen.
