Earlier this month, the world’s biggest single YouTuber, Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg announced that he would make a $50,000 donation to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). However, not long after the initial announcement, the YouTuber walked back the donation for a variety of reasons, and as you would expect, this caused some outrage on social media, which was quick to criticize Kjellberg for the situation.
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On top of this, PewDiePie drew heat for the sweater he wore in the video itself, which featured a symbol that many claimed was an “Iron Cross,” a symbol associated with Nazism. However, the problem with this is the symbol isn’t the Iron Cross, it’s the Georgian Bolnisi Cross, a national symbol for Georgia that can trace its roots back to the Bolnisi Sioni church.
sure, he might be a coward, but he’s also either an idiot or an opportunistic dogwhistler, as evidenced by his decision to wear an iron cross in a video about a jewish charity https://t.co/vMRTCpdz83
— nathan grayson (@Vahn16) September 12, 2019
Please tell me more about PewDiePie has absolutely nothing to do with white supremacists and the iron cross on his shirt in that pic is, I don’t know, ironic or something. https://t.co/tyJbYX3FgI
— Alexander Vornoff (@DrAVornoff) September 12, 2019
*PewDiePie wears an iron cross. A not ALWAYS Nazi symbol, but some far right people still like it.*
*Suddenly every 9 yr old on the internet is a Georgian historian*
AKSHEEWALLY it’s the BULGOGI cross which was a sacred symbol in 5th century Georgia which EVERYONE knows, especi
— 🌹 Confuror show comin’ up (@peppercoyote) September 14, 2019
That all said, PewDiePie addressed the issue during a new episode of “Pew News” that dropped on September 19.
“That cross, people were very sure it was a Nazi cross,” said PewDiePie. “People started attacking me because of it. Nevermind the fact that it’s Georgian characters literally right next to it. Nevermind the fact that I have worn it many times before on my channel. The only time I’ve see people comment on it has been Georgian people with excitement.”
PewDiePie continued by noting that he didn’t even think about people associating Nazi imagery with his sweater, mostly because he doesn’t even think about what’s wearing all that much.
At the moment, PewDiePie maintains he’s still donating $50,000 to a charity, but, for now, he hasn’t decided what charity that will be. However, it sounds like he will be revealing more about this soon.
