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PewDiePie, the Swedish YouTube influencer whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, recently endorsed “E;R,” a YouTube account (pronounced ‘esemicolonr’) accused of posting white nationalist and anti-Semitic content by Right Wing Watch.
Specifically, PewDiePie encouraged his followers to check out E;R’s YouTube account in a December 9 video. He said, “E;R…does great video essays…he did one on death note which I really, really enjoyed.”
In a tweet on December 9, E;R wrote, “Subscribe to @pewdiepie for baste and redpilled content. (T-thanks, senpai.)”
Then, in a tweet on December 10, E;R acknowledged the controversy over PewDiePie’s endorsement. They wrote, “I suppose I do have to apologize–to @pewdiepie. My wording in my thank you tweet was esp irresponsible, knowing they might happily pounce on it. Hope these journo flies don’t end up bothering you.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. WATCH: PewDiePie Encourages Followers to Check Out E;R’s YouTube Channel
In a video posted on December 9, PewDiePie encouraged his followers to check out several other YouTube accounts, including E;R’s account. The promotion comes 15 minutes into the video, which you can see above.
Right Wing Watch noted that in the 24 hours since PewDiePie plugged E;R’s account, the account has received over 15,000 new subscribers and over 70,000 new video views.
E;R also has an active Twitter account, in which they recently retweeted a tweet that included pictures of Ariana Grande and Hitler, telling users to “Save one,” by pressing “like” for Grande or retweeting for Hitler.
2. E;R’s ‘Death Note’ Video Essay (Which PewDiePie Promoted) Makes a Joke of Heather Heyer’s Death, Among Other Controversial Comments
In the caption for this video posted by E;R, the YouTuber writes, “The truth about why this took so long is because I thought it was so funny to call Black L “Niglet” throughout all my recordings (obviously because it’s an ingenious pun on Lawliet [pronounced Law-let]). I eventually got it through my thick fucking skull that YouTube’s looking for A N Y reason, so I redid all the audio to erase my speech crime, but then I got bored and put the project on pause. Now I’m going to finish it.”
The joke about Heather Heyer’s death comes 37 minutes into the video above. While video of the Charlottesville protests plays on the screen, E;R says, “So, for example, say you write the name of a woman and that she will die of being struck by a car. However, there’s too much shit in the way for a car to hit her. Because the situation is impossible, and thus the cause of death as well, the woman would die of a heart attack.”
PewDiePie’s comment on this video is the first one seen. He wrote, “Now Im excited for death note 2, just for another video like this one”
3. E;R Has Over 212,000 Subscribers, as of December 10, & Their YouTube Bio Reads, ‘I Sh*t Where You Eat’
In the bio for E;R’s YouTube account, they respond to a question of whether they are “a racist/sexist/misogynist/MRA/Nazi/anti-Gemite/troll.” E;R replies, “E;R is only E;R.”
E;R also seems to give a hint about what the meaning is behind their name, writing, “I’d rather it be left enigmatic; reality is never as satisfying.” The YouTube account was established in August, 2015. YouTube’s “suggested channels” for those who lie E;R’s account includes PewDiePie.
In the video above, E;R calls their viewers “f*cking n-words” one minute into the video.
4. One of E;R’s Videos Ends With a Nod to the White Supremacist ’14 Words’ Slogan
In the above video, the last few seconds broadcast the following phrase: “We Must Secure Our Existence And A Future For Human Children.” The phrase is one word away from the white supremacist 14 word slogan, “We Must Secure Our Existence And A Future For White Children.”
In another instance, E;R seemingly answered a question by Donkey Kangz about what the best way is to “red pill people on the (((Jewish Question)))?”. He wrote in a comment, “Pretend to joke about it until the punchline really lands.”
while i certainly agree with e;r’s assessment that live action animes are hot garbage, he’s still a crypto-fascist adding hitler speeches and references to exterminating jewish people in his comprehensive video essays. here’s why he does it.
The Young Turks’ Hasan Piker screen-shotted the comment and wrote, “while i certainly agree with e;r’s assessment that live action animes are hot garbage, he’s still a crypto-fascist adding hitler speeches and references to exterminating jewish people in his comprehensive video essays. here’s why he does it.”
5. WATCH: Hasan Piker Calls Out PewDiePie for His Promotion of E;R
The Young Turks’ Hasan Piker released a scathing video condemnation of PewDiePie’s actions, in which he pointed out how many views his video promotion received and how quickly it led to a boost on E;R’s overall subscriber count.
Piker said,
“The largest f*ckin’ YouTuber on the planet made a video that got seven million views in seven hours…E;R is a channel that literally features four minutes of uninterrupted footage from a speech Hitler gave from a content creator that has talked about red pilling his friends about the Jewish question. Yeah, that seems like a big f*cking problem, especially if the majority of his fans are, like, fourteen year old kids who are going to go over to this channel and start watching this guy’s cartoon videos, this guy’s anime videos.
This dude, E;R, from what I’ve seen thus far, writes essays, long, comprehensive video essays. He has an interest in red pilling people and turning them over to Nazism or to fascist ideology. How do you think this will play out when PewDiePie hypes this guy’s f*cking channel? Do you not find an issue with that? Do you not think that is insanely irresponsible?”