YouTuber PewDiePie takes dig at India, calls Indians 'Poo Brains'
What's the story
PewDiePie, a Swedish YouTube channel, released a nasty video named 'Congratulations' after losing followers' battle to T-series. The YouTuber did not seem sporting enough to take the defeat well, and made a rather condescending video, pointing at the caste system and poverty in India. For the uninitiated, it all started when T-series defeated PewDiePie on March 21 in terms of number of subscribers.
Details
Felix accused India of caste system, Bhushan of tax evasion
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg aka PewDiePie, in his latest video, accused T-Series, a music record label, of selling pirated songs along with mentioning alleged tax evasion cases against T-Series' Bhushan Kumar. PewDiePie, in the video 'Congratulations', said, "India got YouTube figured out. How about next you figure how to fix the caste system. May be all those ads will solve your crippling poverty."
Context
T-Series won the battle of subscribers in March
To recall, PewDiePie and T-Series have been arch rivals for a while now. And, their battle is taken pretty seriously by their followers. Last month, T-Series won the battle and became the most followed YouTube channel in the world. T-series gained more than 58 million subscribers since 2018, which challenged PewDiePie's fan base. PewDiePie, in a desperate attempt, to win back subscribers also streamed Fortnite.
Information
PewDiePie fans had built ransomware to help it win
The fan base of PewDiePie also created a ransomware (PewCrypt), which locks users' data till PewDiePie have 100 million subscribers, to help the channel beat T-Series. Notably, PewDiePie, started dominating the subscribers game since 2013, even though it started almost 4 years after T-Series.
About
Once, TIME named Felix 'The World's 100 Most Influential People'
Felix started by posting horror video games and reaction videos, but later expanded in other categories like comedy and vlogs. In 2016, TIME named him one of 'The World's 100 Most Influential People.' However, as his channel grew, so did the controversies. In 2017, Maker Studios, a multi-channel network, called off a deal with Felix for his anti-semitism take in several videos.
Campaign
Separately, many Bollywood stars supported T-Series to win the battle
Separately, Bhushan also started a social media campaign, #BharatWins, to urge people to subscribe to the T-Series' YouTube channel, started in 2006, to win the battle. Many Bollywood stars like Salman Khan, Varun Dhawan, John Abraham and Arjun Kapoor supported the campaign. They tweeted about the campaign, and asked their followers to support T-Series so that it becomes the No. 1 YouTube channel.
Twitter Post
Doston, Bharat ko jeetaaiye, read Salman Khan's tweet
BHARAT WINS YOUTUBE
— Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) March 11, 2019
Doston ,T Series ke YouTube channel ko Subscribe Kar Bharat ko jeetaaiye .#bharatwinsyoutube
Subscribe NOW ..
https://t.co/0a5GvyIKbs
Twitter Post
Varun Dhawan: 'You can make India win!'
You can make India win! It’s so exciting to know that @Tseries, is on the brink of becoming the biggest YouTube channel in the world! Good luck @itsBhushanKumar! Let’s all subscribe to ensure #BharatWinsYouTube pic.twitter.com/um8cmiWcUr
— Varun ZAFAR Dhawan (@Varun_dvn) March 7, 2019
Information
PewDiePie reclaims the top position, leaves T-Series behind, again
However, recent media reports suggest that PewDiePie has taken over T-Series by around 1.5 lakh subscribers and the 29-year-old Swedish YouTuber is back at the top with his peculiar sense of humor. The current standing is: 92,409,120 subscribers for PewDiePie and 92,262,128 for T-Series.