PewDiePie returns to YouTube after a month away, gets slammed for mock Chinese accent

YouTuber Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg returned to the platform after a month-long break, and it took only a hot minute for the 30-year-old content creator to be mired (yet again) in controversy. 

In a video posted on Saturday (Feb 22), the most subscribed individual on YouTube didn’t waste time in getting back to his trademark irreverence and edgy humour, recounting his time-off in Tokyo with his wife. 

Then he started talking about the coronavirus outbreak. Showing a box of 3M surgical masks, Felix explained that he bought about three boxes of the masks, genuinely fearful that he was going to die from the virus. Donning a mask, the man then spouted nonsensical, vaguely Chinese phrases.

“Xinghua Fuzhou!” he sounded like he was saying, which CCN pointed out that it means “apricot blossom town” in Mandarin. It's not as bad as Piers Morgan's mock Chinese from back in January, but still. 

He then went on to playfully put on three more masks on his head amid a global mask shortage. With one covering his eyes (“Does this make me look cool?” he quipped), Felix went on to yell more mock-Chinese phrases with the flag of Japan overlaid on his video. 

“You can joke about stuff right?” he asked afterwards. "Yeah, I remember you can joke about stuff. We're cool."

The rest of the video had him commenting on memes shared on his subreddit. But seemingly mocking the Chinese language and accent — on top of joking about a deadly virus — did not go down well with some.

ugh，pewdiepie's new uploaded video makes me feel kinda…weird

he put on a medical mask and said something seemingly in Chinese，which as a Chinese that i can not recognize or understand

thats…just not something you joke about

— 社畜GIOT (@AllHailJotman_) February 22, 2020

I was really hopeful that PewDiePie would leave for a year, but then he came back after a month and is already mocking the CoronaVirus and chinese people.

— Spinexcellent (@CartoonsExist) February 21, 2020

Your hiatus should have been forever. I can't understand how anyone is still able to defend this racist tool.https://t.co/chB3vvFoN0

— Neurodilation (@neurodilation) February 24, 2020

I saw him wasted four masks and that makes me very uncomfortable, and he's like"ppl can still joke about things right?"? I watched his videos for over 5 years and I convinced myself he doesn't fully understand the HK event but this time I can't find excuses for him.

— Raven (@yoyo_Sherry1212) February 22, 2020

Lol Pewdiepie returned to YouTube after his break with Wu Flu jokes in the video, and now everyone's mad at him again.

It's like he never even left.

— Nicchiban (@Nicchiban_) February 22, 2020

The next video saw Felix addressing the controversy, explaining how he needed to comment on the coronavirus outbreak for “the sake of historical context”. A disclaimer ticker on the video announced that he should be taken seriously and that the comments he made are “purely sarcasm or hyperbole”. 

With even more masks on his face, he then did a commentary on coronavirus-based memes, pointing out that it’s not racist because even Chinese citizens are making memes about the situation. 

“It’s fine. You’re allowed to make jokes. That does not make it funny though,” he said. 

“All memes aside, stay safe. Wash your hands. Dispose of items that you coughed in and all that, yada yada”. 

The hiatus (and the controversy) proved to be a remarkable recipe for clicks. The man garnered more than 13 million views for the first video he posted since his month-long break. 

ilyas@asiaone.com

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