[Update:] According to Tim Pool, Pewdiepie didn’t unfollow everyone to mitigate the death threats they were receiving, but he did so as a meme.
update, I’m told @Pewdiepie unfollowed everyone as a joke to get the attention of a particular person.
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) March 19, 2019
[Original article:] The media has been lobbing hit-pieces at PewDiePie since the New Zealand shooting that took place on March 15th, 2019. After the shooter briefly quipped “subscribe to PewDiePie” before killing 50 Muslims at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, media outlets have been lambasting PewDiePie for the shooter’s actions, including one Anna Maria Ward from the Daily Dot, which seemed to help fuel the death threats being sent not only to PewDiePie but also his followers.
It started with Ward’s article being published on March 18th, 2019, titled “PewDiePie’s alt-right ties are impossible to ignore”.
The article goes through a series of “offenses” that PewDiePie has committed over the years, and then proceeds to inflame the discourse surrounding the shooting incident by stating that PewDiePie has “bombarded” his followers with the kind of rhetoric and culture that helps cultivate the kind of events that took place in New Zealand. Ward wrote…
“The New Zealand gunman didn’t carry out two mass shootings because of one YouTuber. He didn’t shout out PewDiePie to credit him as an inspiration; he referenced a meme that was sure to distract and dismay the internet in the face of an unspeakable act of terrorism. But it’s no coincidence that Nazis are attracted to PewDiePie—his insistence on making bigoted jokes (which frames the rhetoric of neo-Nazism as entertaining) and spotlighting radical right-wing figures makes his channel seem like a welcoming space for that population.”
The article also pointed to some of the people that PewDiePie follows, which apparently led to threats being issued at said individuals. A tweet from user The_Sam_McCloud captured an image of some of the people that PewDiePie was following where Leftists began targeting them, which resulted in some of them trending on social media and being called “Nazis”, such as Left-wing feminist Laci Green.
As pointed out by journalist Nick Monroe on March 18th, 2019, the Daily Dot later went back to edit the article after PewDiePie began unfollowing everyone that was being harassed after trending on Twitter following the Daily Dot’s article being published.
Daily Dot INCITED the death threats against @pewdiepie and the people he followed, attempts to wash their hands of responsibility with HALF-ASSED “CORRECTION” https://t.co/pw30Zor0iO pic.twitter.com/cYf9yitKaf
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) March 18, 2019
As noted by Keemstar on March 18th, 2019, PewDiePie had officially unfollowed everyone but the Korean pop group, BTS.
BREAKING: Some extremest were making death threats to everyone @pewdiepie was following so he unfollowed everyone! #DramaAlert
source @nickmon1112
— KEEM (@KEEMSTAR) March 18, 2019
Now if you visit PewDiePie’s account you’ll note that he’s only following one person… BTS.
This was basically a mitigating factor to prevent people from going after his followers.
The media has been gung-ho in trying to take down PewDiePie and anyone he follows.
They’ve been using the New Zealand shooting as a segue into trying to get the popular YouTuber deplatformed permanently, after previous attempts have failed.
This is nothing new for most media outlets since they’re Left-wing and partake in exercising and promulgating regressive sociopolitics.
The New Zealand shooter wanted them to do exactly what they’re doing, as outlined in his 74-page manifesto. His goal was to incite Left-wing media to create confusion and disruption, and to get politicians to ban guns in some capacity, using these stepping stones of division in order to ultimately accelerate society into a race war.
(Thanks for the news tip Nick Monroe)
