YouTube star Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg has released a video (watch it below) in response to the uproar an article on Fusion caused, which claimed he earned €6.7 million from his YouTube channel last year.
The PewDiePie channel, in which Kjellberg discusses and commentates video games, has amassed more than 9 billion views and 37 million subscribers.
In a video titled “Let’s Talk About Money” released Tuesday, Kjellberg said: “Money is a topic I’ve purposely tried to avoid in the five years I’ve been making videos because I just feel like it’s not important to anyone.”
However, he goes on to address some of his “favourite” comments made by people on his channel about how much he earns in an attempt to set the record straight.
“What people don’t really think about until it’s in their face is that I have nine billion views, that translates to something. There’s ads on my videos. I make money on those. So whenever it comes out how much money I make in a certain year, people just get so shocked,” Kjellberg says.
And a lot of people which I saw were very, very angry. They thought it was unfair. They thought I just sit on my ass all day and just yell at the screen over here. Which is true. But there’s so much more to it than that, and I understand that people – haters gonna hate, right?
Here are some other choice quotes from the video:
On money not making him happy: ”I really think that money doesn’t make you happy. I am just as happy as I am now as I was five years ago. I am very happy that I don’t have to worry about paying rent because that was a huge issue when [we] came over from Sweden, we could barely afford it. I’m happy about that, but other than that, it doesn’t change much. And to see people being upset about this whole thing is just sad. I think it’s such a waste.”
Responding to a commenter who said anyone could do what PewDiePie does: ”I think that’s what’s cool about YouTube. That anyone could technically do it, right? Surely if I didn’t exist, there would be someone to fill my place. I do work a tremendous amount - ask my girlfriend.”
Responding to a commenter who said soldiers are more deserving of Kjellberg’s money: ”[Said in a sarcastic tone] I mean yeah, you’re right. War is such a better cause that needs more of our money and attention. It’s really worked out well throughout history. You make a really good point there.”
In response to a commenter that said another YouTuber was funnier: ”It really doesn’t matter what you think. Life is not fair, it’s just how it is. If you think someone else is funnier, go refresh their videos over and over because that’s how we get paid.”
On why people shouldn’t care about his earnings: ”In conclusion, it seems like the whole world cares more about how much money I make than I do myself. We did raise $1 million for charity and very few articles picked up on that. But here it is, everywhere, how much money I make. I don’t think there’s any good reason why anyone should care. And on top of that, I guess there’s no good reason why I should care either. So I’m just gonna end it there.”
Here’s the video:
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