PewDiePie Defends Jenna Marbles Following The Announcement That She Is Leaving Her YouTube Channel
On Friday, famed Swedish YouTuber Felix Kjellberg — better known as PewDiePie — shared a written message on his channel regarding the announcement that fellow internet personality Jenna Mourey (aka Jenna Marbles) will no longer upload videos on YouTube, reported the New York Post.
As noted on Thursday by The Inquisitr, Mourey uploaded an 11-minute video, titled “A Message,” on June 25, where she apologized for previously posting upsetting content. She referenced a clip filmed in 2011 in which she appeared to be in blackface while mimicking Nicki Minaj, a 2011 music video that had racist lyrics, and a vlog from 2012 that has been deemed misogynistic.
In her most recent video, which has been viewed over 5.3 million times, Mourey stated that she has been deleting a number of videos and will be stepping down from YouTube for an unspecified amount of time.
Kjellberg, however, seems to believe that this self-imposed break from YouTube is unnecessary.
“Jenna Marbles was one of the most genuinely good people on this platform and now she gets bullied off the site by mistakes that happened 8-10 years ago.. [sic] Who cares? These actions reflect in no way who she is and the content she makes today, anyone who watches her can see that,” penned the popular content creator.
The 30-year-old continued to say that Mourey should not be judged for clips uploaded nearly a decade ago, as the standards of what is problematic have changed. He clarified, however, that he understands her actions were not “right.”
“I thought the point was to learn from your mistakes and do better? We all have problems in our past, no one in the world is perfect,” asserted Kjellberg.
He then seemed to reiterate that he believes Mourey’s departure from YouTube was caused by internet bullies. Kjellberg also included a screenshot of articles regarding the situation from the British publications Sky News, BBC News, and The Independent, and seemed to disapprove of the headlines. Since it was uploaded, the message has received over 484,000 likes.
The New York Post pointed out that Kjellberg is a controversial YouTuber and has also faced criticism over the years. According to a 2017 Vox article, he said a racial slur while streaming PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. In addition, he has previously made anti-Semitic remarks, which led to the cancellation of his web series, Scare PewDiePie. Despite these transgressions, the gamer still has a strong following, with more than 105 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.
