Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg has issued a response to the footage of him saying the n-word in a live stream, saying that he’s “just an idiot” and that what he said “was not okay,” insisting: “I know I’m better than this.”
The video, titled ‘My Response,’ was published to the 27-year-old’s YouTube account, which has over 57 million subscribers and is the most popular channel on the site by a considerable margin. The footage of PewDiePie saying the n-word, which was recorded while he was playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, quickly circulated around social media and led to Firewatch developer Campo Santo filing DMCA takedown notices against videos he’d previously recorded playing their games. Campo Santo also encouraged other developers to do the same.
In his response video, PewDiePie said: “You probably won’t believe me when I say this, but whenever I go online and I hear other players use the same kind of language that I did, I always find it extremely immature and stupid, and I hate how I’ve now personally fed into that part of gaming as well.
“It was something that I said in the heat of the moment. I said the worst word that I could possibly think of, and it just sort of slipped out. I’m not gonna make any excuses as to why it did, because there are no excuses for it. I’m disappointed in myself, because it seems like I’ve learned nothing from these past controversies.”
He continued:”It’s not that I think I can say or do whatever I want and get away with it, that’s not it at all, I’m just an idiot. But that doesn’t say what I said or how I said it okay, it was not okay.”
He then went on to discuss how he wanted to “improve,” acknowledging the various other controversies he has also been involved in this year. “I’m really sorry if I offended, hurt or disappointed anyone with all of this,” he explained. “Being in the position I am, I should know better. I know I can’t keep messing up like this, and I owe it to my audience and to myself to do better than this, because I know I’m better than this.”
He concluded: “I really want to improve myself, and better myself, not just for me but for anyone who looks up to me and anyone who is influenced by me, and that’s how I want to move forward away from this.”
Watch the video below:
