Controversial gaming vlogger, 29, is owner of second most popular channel by subscribers

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The gaming vlogger Felix Kjellberg, AKA PewDiePie, has surpassed 100 million subscribers on YouTube.

Kjellberg, the owner of the channel with the second highest number of subscribers on the video sharing site, built a legion of young fans with his “let’s play” game commentaries, but he has also attracted controversy.

The 29-year-old Swedish YouTuber has posted videos with antisemitic jokes and Nazi imagery, and has been embraced by far-right figures including the Christchurch shooting suspect, who urged viewers of a live stream of the New Zealand mass shooting to subscribe to PewDiePie. In one of Kjellberg’s videos, a pair of men hired by the YouTuber held up a sign saying: “Death to all Jews.”

Kjellberg reportedly removed some of the videos and issued a statement recognising that some of his jokes were “ultimately offensive”. He said he felt “absolutely sickened” that the alleged gunman had mentioned him.

Kjellberg previously recommended a channel featuring Nazi references in its videos, and while he removed the reference to the channel after an uproar, he made light of his “biggest oopsie” in a video, saying: “Did you notice the shepherding of a 14-year-old to Nazi propaganda? Did you notice the immediate indoctrination of 75 million children?”

In late 2018, Kjellberg urged his followers to subscribe to his channel after the Indian entertainment company T-Series began to quickly amass support, with Bollywood stars rallying fans to help overthrow PewDiePie’s five-year reign as the most subscribed to channel on YouTube.

The YouTube millionaire “Mr Beast” purchased hoardings and radio ads to support Kjellberg in North Carolina, while another YouTube personality, Justin Roberts, bought a $1m (£816,000) billboard in Times Square urging people to subscribe to PewDiePie. Kjellberg himself made a rap diss track about the label in an effort to hold on to the top spot.

T-Series, the popularity of which rose in step with wider internet access in south Asia, now has almost 110 million subscribers. For context, Justin Bieber has 46 million, Rihanna has more than 32 million and Drake has almost 19 million.

Kjellberg is paid to endorse products on his channels, and the actor Jack Black is among those he has recently competed against on the video game Minecraft.

The YouTuber, who got married on Monday, is yet to comment on the milestone. He thanked a prominent supporter for praising him and retweeted a post by YouTube saying: “What a month to celebrate and congratulate PewDiePie.”