Update: This guy has posted a lot of objectionable content since this post was written. Parents should be aware that his videos are not appropriate for kids.
Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg is a massively successful YouTube Let’s Player. His channel has 37.7 million subscribers and 9 billion views, making it the most popular channel on YouTube. He’s been in the top for two years. Swedish newspaper Expressen reports that Kjellberg made $7.4 million from his channel last year—a substantial upgrade from only (only!) $4 million in 2013. Not everyone is happy about this.
A lot of people, upon finding out just how lucrative PewDiePie’s tiny empire is, are actually pretty upset. There’s a lot of angst surrounding whether he deserves it just for being funny while playing games online. Presumably at least some of those folks are jealous of his success, while others might just find it annoying. PewDiePie released a video addressing those concerns today, outlining how he feels about his own success and the work he puts into making his videos—not to mention how happy his work makes him.
My thoughts? PewDiePie is fun to watch. He’s charismatic! He’s one of my go-to Let’s Players—and evidently I’m not alone—because I enjoy his videos. He’s the same age as me (25), which makes me feel a little like I need to try harder, but kudos to him for making it work. And I think we can all agree that donating $1 million to charity isn’t a bad thing at all.
