‘I’m tired. I’m feeling very tired’: YouTube’s biggest star PewDiePie announces break from platform
Vlogger with 102m subscribers will go on hiatus in 2020
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Your support makes all the difference.YouTube’s biggest star Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg has announced he is taking a break from the platform.
The vlogger made the revelation in his most recent “Pew News” video, saying he is “very tired” and will be going on hiatus in early 2020.
“I am taking a break from YouTube next year,” said Kjellberg. “I wanted to say it in advance because I made up my mind.”
He added: “I’m tired. I’m feeling very tired. I don’t know if you can tell. Just so you know, early next year I’ll be a way for a little while. I’ll explain that later but I wanted to give a heads up.”
In August, Kjellberg hinted he could be stepping back from the platform soon, saying: “I do think it would be good for me to take a break at some point. It would be nice to not have YouTube in my brain for the first time in 10 years.”
At the time of writing, Kjellberg’s YouTube channel has garnered more than 24bn views since it launched in 2010.
He has 102m subscribers and mostly vlogs about video games and comedy.
Kjellberg is a somewhat controversial figure. In 2017, Disney’s Maker Studios cut all ties with Kjellberg after he posted a series of videos that included Nazi imagery and people he had paid to hold up signs that said “Death to all Jews” and “Hitler did absolutely nothing wrong.”
He responded to the controversy in a blog post aimed at clarifying his intention with the video.
“I was trying to show how crazy the modern world is,” he claimed, “specifically some of the services available online. I picked something that seemed absurd to me – that people on Fiverr would say anything for 5 dollars. I think it’s important to say something and I want to make one thing clear: I am in no way supporting any kind of hateful attitudes.”
He concluded: “Though this was not my intention, I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive. As laughable as it is to believe that I might actually endorse these people, to anyone unsure on my standpoint regarding hate-based groups: No, I don’t support these people in any way.”
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