PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, said he pledged the money, which he received through a sponsorship, to the charity at the suggestion of someone else.
Popular YouTuber PewDiePie withdrew his $50,000 pledge to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) after his fans expressed outrage.
PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, said he pledged the money, which he received through a sponsorship, to the charity at the suggestion of someone else and didn’t know much about it. He now plans to give it to another charity of his choice.
He announced he’d be donating it to the charity during an unboxing of a YouTube Play button he received for having more than 100 million subscribers.
“I made the mistake of picking a charity that I was advised to instead of picking a charity that I’m personally passionate about,” Kjellberg said. “Which is 100% my fault.”
Kjellberg has been criticized in the past for allegedly paying two men from Fiverr to hold up an anti-Semitic sign in 2017. He also used racist language during a YouTube gaming livestream in the past, according to the Verge.
Kjellberg said his donation to the ADL “doesn’t make sense to everyone, especially since they’ve outright spoken against me,” in a since-deleted tweet.
In a statement to InsideEdition.com, the ADL said: “ADL learned about the potential donation from Felix Kjellberg when everyone else did: when he made the announcement on his channel earlier this week. We have not received any communication from him beyond that."
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