YouTube star PewDiePie is forced to apologise saying he ‘has no clue she was deaf’ after getting slammed for mocking a TikToker using American Sign Language because he didn’t like her nails
- Swedish video maker, 32, came under fire after posting his latest YouTube video
- He has said he had ‘no clue’ the woman was deaf and was making fun of her nails
- Video shows TikToker Scarlet May telling story with American Sign Language
- PewDiePie pauses clip and says: ‘I’m not listening to this’ and makes fun of nails
- May made response video saying: ‘I feel like it was very weird and unnecessary’
YouTube star PewDiePie has apologised after he was slammed for uploading a video in which he appeared to mock a deaf woman using American Sign Language.
The 32-year-old Swedish video maker, whose real name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, came under fire after posting his most recent YouTube video to his 111million subscribers.
But he has hit back by saying that he had ‘no clue’ the woman was deaf and was only making fun of her long nails, adding that it was an ‘honest mistake’.
In the video, titled My Dog Cringes at TikToks, PewDiePie is seen playing various clips from the social media app which he then proceeds to make fun of.
One clip, which has now been removed from his video, shows deaf TikToker Scarlet May telling a story in American Sign Language.
After a couple of seconds PewDiePie stops the video and says: ‘No, I’m not listening to this.’
He then makes fun of Ms May’s nails before comparing them to his dog’s claws.
The 32-year-old Swedish video maker, whose real name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, came under fire after posting his most recent YouTube video to his 111million subscribers
In the video, titled My Dog Cringes at TikToks, PewDiePie is seen playing various clips from the social media app which he then proceeds to make fun of. He then makes fun of deaf TikToker Scarlet May’s nails before comparing them to his dog’s claws
PewDiePie then posted underneath the reuploaded video to explain the situation
PewDiePie then picks up his dog, Maya, and begins to imitate Ms May telling a story, using her paws to copy Ms May’s hand movements.
He was slammed by critics on YouTube and Twitter, who reuploaded the clip alongside comments such as: ‘Not Pewdiepie making fun of a deaf woman???’
‘So why is nobody talking about pewdiepie making fun of a deaf black woman?’ one person said, sharing the video.
Another wrote: ‘Pewdiepie mocking a deaf tiktok creator for signing in her videos simply because she has long nails…as if the dude couldn’t be any worse.’
‘Honestly if you still like pewdiepie grow tf up. not only is he racist, he’s now apparently mocking a deaf girl on tiktok who is using sign language,’ a fourth added.
Replying to @anethepeach we all make mistakes hopefully he learns from this 😊🤟🏽 #fyp #foryou
Ms May, who has 6.2million followers on TikTok, then uploaded a response video in which she says: ‘He made a reaction video to my TikTok, making fun of my nails and making fun of my signs with his dog…
‘So how do I feel? I feel like it was very weird and very unnecessary but at the same time I wasn’t surprised, I’m used to it.’
She adds that one of the reasons she uploads videos to TikTok is to show that deaf people can have long nails while using sign language.
She said: ‘But then a big creator comes on here and puts us a million steps back so It’s very frustrating.’
However the TikToker then says: ‘Maybe he didn’t know I was doing sign language, maybe he just didn’t like my long nails. That’s okay, a lot of people don’t like them…
‘If that was the case he should have just been like ”Oh I do not like her nails” and skipped the video.
‘But instead he chose to stop the video and proceeds to mock me doing sign language which shows he knew I was doing sign.’
Ms May, who has 6.2million followers on TikTok, then uploaded a response video in which she says PewDiePie’s video ‘was very weird and very unnecessary’
She adds: ‘If you made a mistake, admit the mistake. You don’t just get to mock deaf people who have already been struggling for years…
‘I really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt like maybe he just doesn’t know or is really unaware, even though it’s 2022 and there’s deaf people and sign language all over social media. But the mocking of the sign and the voice like… he definitely has to know.’
She finishes by saying ‘we all live and learn’ and added: ‘If he did not know before, he definitely knows now!’
PewDiePie then posted underneath the reuploaded video to explain the situation by saying: ‘Hey, just to clear a few things up: I edited out the clip with the girl that has the long nails.
PewDiePie then posted underneath the reuploaded video to explain the situation by saying: ‘Hey, just to clear a few things up: I edited out the clip with the girl that has the long nails.’ He added that he had ‘no clue’ she was deaf
He ended his explanation by saying: ‘Anyway honest mistake, my bad’
‘Had no clue she was deaf, but kinda dumb of me to not realize. Still watching through the clip I only poked fun of her long nails.
‘The voice I did for my dog is the same voice I’ve given her for years. (edit: ..and making my dog’s paws move was poking at people always dancing or doing some move on tiktok, which is an ongoing theme in the whole video).
‘Anyway honest mistake, my bad.’
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