PewDiePie Offically Apologizes for His Jokes

Following the controversy surrounding his now-removed videos, where he reportedly made several anti-Semitic jokes that got him booted from his Youtube Red series and kicked from his partnership with Disney, PewDiePie has finally gone to the old webcam again to issue a more proper apology for his behavior, admitting that he had gone too far and had made some mistakes.

Here's what happened: The Wall Street Journal reported that in several of PewDiePie’s videos, the famous YouTuber made several jokes that could roughly be called ‘tasteless’ in the best of circumstances, typically targeting Jews in the process. These have included having a man dressed as Jesus saying “Hitler did nothing wrong”, and criticizing Israel-based website Fiverr, saying “Jews found another way to f@#k Jesus over”. His most recent video, however, depicted a bunch of folks from that website who had been paid five dollars to hold up a sign saying “All Jews Must Die”, and, say what you want about comedy, when you keep targeting the same people, that is gonna come off as kinda, you know, anti-Semitic.

Following the report, PewDiePie got in some trouble with sponsors and supporters and has now officially issued a video apology.

“I’m sorry for the words that I used, as I know they offended people and I admit that the joke itself went too far. I do strongly believe that you can joke about anything but I also believe there’s a right way, and not the best way, to joke about things. I love to push boundaries, but I would consider myself a rookie comedian, and I’ve definitely made mistakes like this before. But it’s always been a learning and growing experience for me...this whole situation has definitely been that for me. It’s something that I’m going to keep in mind going forward.”

For what it’s worth, he seems sincere enough, once he muscles through a long-winded rant about his hatred for the press. Perhaps it's not sincere enough to get him back in the good graces of YouTube and Disney, and probably not enough for anyone who was offended by his jokes, but enough for his fans and anyone who may have been on the fence about the whole mess. The Wall Street Journal, which he blasts in his apology, is unapologetic in turn and says they stand by their reporting.

Either way, bad jokes happen, and the world keeps turning. Here’s hoping for everyone’s sakes he puts a little more thought into his attempt at shock humor in the future.