YouTuber PewDiePie apologises for mocking deaf TikToker Scarlet May after being blasted by fans

A YouTuber has sparked outrage after mocking a deaf TikToker in an 11-minute video shared with his 111million subscribers.

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, from Sweden, who is best known as PewDiePie on YouTube, has been facing backlash from his fans after posting a video reacting to TikTok content that he deems as ‘cringe’.

The 32-year-old uploaded a video titled My Dog Cringes at TikToks earlier this week.

A now deleted scene showed deaf TikTok star Scarlet May telling a story using American Sign Language (ASL).

Speaking to his viewers, Felix said: “No, I’m not listening to this.”

The YouTuber then compared Scarlett’s nails to those of his pug, Maya, before using them to imitate her sign language.

Felix has since apologised for his behaviour in the video, saying:  “I edited out the clip with the girl that has the long nails. Had no clue she was deaf, but kinda dumb of me to not realize.”

Fans have taken to social media to share their opinion on Felix’s video, with opinions on his mocking being very mixed.

One wrote: “To the people saying ‘he was just talking about her nails’, even she states herself that he’s clearly mocking the way she’s signing and talking. So all of you nasty straggots in my comments trying to defend him by saying he was just talking about her nails... “

Another also stuck up for Felix, saying he “wasn’t mocking her signing”.

They wrote: “1st, ASL doesn’t always mean the creator/signer is deaf. Could be to help those with deafness.

“2nd, He simply wasn’t mocking her signing, he specifically pointed out her wild and loud nails, and simply moving and waving your hands or fingers of a literally dog to mimic her nails.”

Another said: “There’s no way he can’t tell she’s deaf”

Scarlett has responded to the incident on social media.

Scarlett said: “[PewDiePie] made a reaction video to one of my TikToks, making fun of my nails, making fun of my signs with his dogs, and, i guess, at one point, mocking my voice.”

Adding: “You don’t get to just mock deaf people who have been struggling for years with people like you and then go about your day”.

Scarlett uses her 6.2m follower platform to help people who depend on sign language, but also to those who have problems with long nails.

• Felix is 32-years-old and lives in Japan
• Before content creation, he attended Chalmers University of Technology
• His first hit was creating content for the game “Amnesia: The Dark Descent”, which became his most recognised series
• He is married to Marzia Bisognin
• His net worth is $54 million (around £52 million)

PewDiePie

YouTuber

Felix Kjellberg was born 24 October 1989, in southwest Sweden in a city called Gothenburg.

He always had a huge obsession with video games and loved playing them in his spare time.

While in school, Felix registered a YouTube account under the name PewDiePie.

He attended Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, but dropped out in 2011 feeling like he “couldn’t relate to f****** anyone.”

He believed that YouTube was his future career but his parents believed it was risky and refused to financially support him.

Felix started working at a hot-dog stand and sold his artwork to fund his YouTube account.

His goal was for YouTube to be his full time job.

His Career: In his early days, PewDiePie’s channel mostly focused on playing video games with commentary, officially dubbed as “Let’s Play” genre.

Videos in this category found to be extremely popular, especially when paired with the horror genre that was gaining popularity at this moment.

People were drawn to his over expressive personality and his tone to not take himself seriously.

Felix would find a lot of success in the games Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Minecraft that were extremely popular during the 2010’s.

By 2011, PewDiePie was gaining popularity at 60,000 subscribers and was able to commit to his YouTube channel, finally quitting his hot-dog stand job.

Felix would establish popular phrases within his community like “bro fist” and “stay awesome”

By July 2012, PewDiePie had gained one million subscribers, making him one of the fastest growing creators on the platform.

His past controversies: In 2012, his let’s play series was getting criticised for the multiple rape jokes.

Felix would later apologise for this on Tumblr, stating he “didn’t want his jokes to ever hurt anyone”.

In 2017, Felix would mock freelance site ‘Fiverr’ stating that he could pay a pair of Indian freelancers to say and do extreme things.

He paid two individuals to hold up a sign reading “Death to All Jews”.

Felix would later apologise for this behaviour but lost ties with Disney as they found his content “inappropriate”, cancelling future plans and his “scare PewDiePie” series.

Felix would find this decision ‘unjust’ as other huge content creators such as “Logan Paul” were still on YouTube’s premium subscription service. Logan had caused controversy by showing a dead body in Japan’s Aokigahara forest stating “Maybe it’s because I joked about Jews and that’s a more sensitive topic than showing a dead body,”.

His Relationships: Felix met his wife Mariza Bisognin very early in his YouTube career, after she was emailing him about his videos.

She would reportedly email Felix to tell him that she found his videos funny and after they developed a close relationship, Felix proposed in 2018.

The pair got married in 2019 in London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

His Money: His net worth is $54 million (around £52 million) according to Bio Overview.

His Connections: He has had multiple connections with other big YouTubers such as Smosh, Jacksepticeye and h3h3productions.

He has been on multiple talk shows such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Talk Show with Conan O’Brien