Disney’s Maker Studios has severed ties with YouTube star PewDiePie, TheWrap has learned.
PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, has been dropped by the company after videos of his featuring anti-semitic jokes were uncovered by the Wall Street Journal.
According to the report, Kjellberg posted a video on Jan. 11 featuring footage of two men laughing as they hold up a banner reading “Death to all Jews.” In addition, the paper found nine other instances of anti-semitic jokes on his channel.
Kjellberg has since defended the video as a joke that went too far after advertising on the video was pulled by YouTube’s parent company, Google.
“Although Felix has created a following by being provocative and irreverent, he clearly went too far in this case and the resulting videos are inappropriate,” Maker said in a statement provided to TheWrap.
Three of Kjellberg’s videos have since been removed, including the one posted on Jan. 11 and another posted on Jan. 22 that showed a man dressed up as Jesus Christ saying, “Hitler did absolutely nothing wrong.”
Kjellberg’s channel currently has more than 53 million subscribers. Last December, he topped Forbes’ list of the highest-paid YouTubers of 2016, having made more than $15 million.
This is not the first time the 27-year-old has come under fire for controversial jokes. He previously threatened to shut down his channel after reaching 50 million subscribers, in what turned out to be a publicity stunt.