A couple of days ago we reported that Felix Kjellberg, AKA PewDiePie, AKA one of the most influential personalities and influencers in the gaming industry with over 57 million subscribers, had once again found himself in the middle of the spotlight for doing something incredibly stupid. During a heated stream of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, Kjellberg uttered a racial slur, used as an insult, which has since echoed and reverberated through headlines and conversations.
For many, this was the last straw, and this insensitive and backward comment made live on stream was enough to convince most of us that PewDiePie was a toxic part of our community. Today, he published a short video apology to all of his fans, and to anyone who he may have offended with his comment.
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We’ve seen PewDiePie apology videos before. This one is slightly different, because he makes no attempt to defend himself. He doesn’t crack a single joke, and he doesn’t blame an oversensitive and predatory media for making him out to be worse than he really is. Watch his video below, or if you’re somewhere where you can’t turn up the volume, we’ll transcribe it for you as well.
“I’m just an idiot.”
“Hello. I wanted to make a statement on what I said in my previous livestream. You probably won’t believe this when I say this, but, whenever I go online and I hear other players use the same kind of language that I did, I always find it extremely immature and stupid, and I hate how I now personally fed into that part of gaming as well.
“It was something that I said in the heat of the moment. I said the worst word I could possibly think of, and it just sort of slipped out. I’m not going to make any excuses for why it did, because there are no excuses for it. I’m disappointed in myself, because it seems like I’ve learned nothing from all these past controversies. And it’s not that I think I can say or do whatever I want and get away with it. That’s not it at all. I’m just an idiot. But that doesn’t make what I said, or how I said it, OK.
“I’m really sorry if I offended, hurt, or disappointed anyone with all of this. Being in the position I am, I should know better. I know I can’t keep messing up like this. I owe it to my audience and to myself to do better than this, because I know I’m better than this. I really want to improve myself, and better myself. Not just for me, but for anyone that looks up to me, or anyone who’s influenced by me. That’s how I want to move forward away from this.
“That’s all I had to say. Thank you for watching. Bye.”
