PewDiePie Apologizes for Bad Langauge (Again)

If you recall, the other day PewDiePie found himself in the center of yet another controversy when his abuse of the N-word became a trending topic on social media: reaching the point where one small indie team, Firewatch developer Campo Santo, issued a copyright strike against the famous YouTuber, forcing him to take down his video praising their game, and banned him from making any content off their games in future.

But the controversy didn't stop there. Following the news, people all around YouTube started entering a heated discussion: less about the use of the N-word itself, and more regarding the consequences of these events long-term. People are afraid that the long-agreed "truce" between "let's players" and game developers would reach a breaking point, and copyright strikes would become the new way developers policed content creators around the net. More others feared that PewDiePie, as the biggest channel on YouTube and the most famous success story, was making the rest of them look bad, and could cause much-maligned oversight to come to the currently free video hosting website.

While no other developers have publicly joined Campo Santo's crusade, PewDiePie seems to understand the consequences of his rash words... or at least, claims to. If you recall, the last time he apologized for his poor-taste Nazi jokes, it was full of half-apologies, excuses, and attacks. This time, however, his apology video is short, sincere, and an admission he messed up. 



Of course, saying that is all well and good, but actually following through with his promises to improve has always proven difficult for PewDiePie. His attitude has always been one of the biggest draws for his fanbase, and keeping what they love while easing back on the things that cross the line is going to be a challenge he has to figure out if he really does plan on improving himself and become the role-model he really should be.

As of this writing, Sean Vanaman hasn't commented on the apology, but this looks like the kind of thing that isn't going away soon. If there are any more developments, I'll keep ya'll posted.