Jacksepticeye Breaks His Silence On PewDiePie Controversies
PewDiePie, a.k.a. Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, is a popular YouTube creator who is no stranger to controversy. From players petitioning to ban him from Apex Legends to his own recent decision to step away from YouTube for the immediate future, he's never far from the minds of gamers (for good or ill).
While PewDiePie's editor has recently spoken up in regards to Pewd's break from streaming, it hasn't been until now that fellow creator Jacksepticeye has made his feelings known on the subject. In a recent interview with Metro, the streamer (real name Sean McLoughlin) explained how he has been personally affected by the things people have said about PewDiePie, as well as how he sees the controversies affected Kjellberg himself.
McLoughlin explained that PewDiePie is, in his opinion, much more humble in person than people give him credit for. He also expressed concerns that some of the controversies had gotten out of hand or had been inflated by reactionary fans. This is up for debate, considering some of the stickier situations PewDiePie has found himself in, but it's worth noting that McLoughlin has quite a bit of faith in his friend.
The friendship that launched a zillion streams
Naturally, given the friendship between the two streamers, it can be hard to separate between damage control and a genuine statement. However, Jacksepticeye was quick to acknowledge this as well, mentioning in the interview the fact that the two are friends. "It is strange, all the stuff that gets said about him, it's kind of weird to see that being said about a friend of yours."
As a matter of fact, Jacksepticeye feels that he owes a bit of his success to early support from PewDiePie. In another interview with Metro, McLoughlin explained that a shoutout from PewDiePie's channel in his early streaming days garnered him a few thousand viewers. It's understandable that he'd always be somewhat protective of his friend.
Interestingly, he also mentioned in that interview, "I'm only in charge of what I say and what I do, and however the audience interprets it and takes it and does with it, it's kind of up to them." That's a pretty loaded statement, when one considers how often PewDiePie's comments have landed him in hot water.
It's worth mentioning that PewDiePie's "jokes" haven't gone without having an effect on fellow streamers, including Jacksepticeye himself. Back in 2016, PewDiePie jokingly tweeted that he and Jacksepticeye had joined the terrorist group ISIS. This led to confused fans asking what he was thinking with these comments; a situation that Jacksepticeye probably didn't love being attached to.
This isn't the first time Jacksepticeye has weighed in on PewDiePie
As should be expected from two guys with a rather public friendship and huge followings of their own, this is far from the first time that McLoughlin has spoken up in defense of his pal. JackSepticEye has even uploaded videos on his own channel to express these views, using his massive platform to try to come to his friend's aid.
Jacksepticeye has previously argued that some of Kjellberg's more offensive statements were simply poorly-delivered jokes or misconstrued by viewers. At one point, he outright said, "I can still be friends with someone, and not agree some of their actions that they do."
This statement should give you a pretty good idea of how PewDiePie's recent departure from streaming may be affecting Jacksepticeye personally. For McLoughlin, this situation doesn't seem to boil down to a simple matter of viewership or pleasing sponsors; it's about making sure his friend is doing okay.
JackSepticEye tries to keep things light in the face of controversy
Over the years, many of PewDiePie's controversies have led to him losing viewers, some of whom have found other streamers to devote their time to. In a gesture of good faith (and possibly to try to repay Pewds for the bump early in his career), Jacksepticeye has even gone to bat for PewDiePie's viewership numbers.
Around this time last year, Jacksepticeye jokingly threatened to delete his own YouTube channel if more of his viewers didn't also patronize PewDiePie. While that was obviously a grand gesture, it's interesting to see how one streamer's troubles can affect the community at large.
We're pretty sure that PewDiePie isn't gone forever; in fact, both he and his editor have said as much. In the meantime, it's kind of wholesome to see Jacksepticeye carrying on as usual, throwing kind words toward one of the content creators that helped him get his start. Regardless of how you feel about the situation as a whole, Jacksepticeye's positivity is rather commendable.