Gothenburg, Sweden – Swedish YouTube personality PewDiePie says he feels sickened that the alleged gunman in the New Zealand mosque attacks referred to him during a livestream of the shooting.
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In the video posted on Facebook, a voice is heard saying “Remember lads … subscribe to PewDiePie.”
PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, says on Twitter that he’s “absolutely sickened having my name uttered by this person. My heart and thoughts go out to the victims, families and everyone affected.”
PewDiePie is famous for his video game commentaries and has some 86 million followers. YouTube distanced itself from him in the past after he made jokes criticized as anti-Semitic and posted Nazi imagery in his videos. He has apologized.
He is engaged in an online battle with Indian music channel T-Series over which channel has the most subscribers. Supporters post messages encouraging others to subscribe to his channel, with the phrase “subscribe to PewDiePie.”