PewDiePie says he doesn't believe cultural appropriation is "a thing"
12 December 2019, 12:40
"What makes the world beautiful is the fact that we can – not steal from cultures – but appreciate other cultures."
PewDiePie, born Felix Kjellberg, has said that he doesn't accept that cultural appropriation is a thing. The YouTuber discussed it in his latest video titled "99.41% Cant Watch This Without Facepalming **super hard**" posted on 9 December.
Cultural appropriation is when members of a dominant culture adopt elements of a minority or oppressed culture. It is considered especially harmful when specific groups are targeted for an element of their culture but it becomes "fashionable" when used by other groups. In recent weeks, rapper Bhad Bhabie has been called out for cultural appropriation for wearing box braids, while YouTuber Patrick Starrr also received backlash for sporting the Nigerian gele.
READ MORE: PewDiePie and Marzia Kjellberg were robbed and had '90% of their valuables' stolen
PewDiePie – who recently became the most-watched and most-subscribed YouTuber in YouTube Rewind 2019 – responded to a Reddit post in his video, which read: "If you are white, you can’t speak Spanish." Another user responded to it, writing: "Are you familiar with the entire country of Spain?"
99.41% Cant Watch This Without Facepalming **super hard**
In response, PewDiePie said: "Cultural appropriation is one of the concepts I refuse to accept ever to be a thing. We should have just thrown it out straight away. What makes the world beautiful is the fact that we can – not steal from cultures – but appreciate other cultures. What’s the problem? We’re one nation."
He added: "Oh but historically, whites would take from… yeah but that’s not the case 99.9% of the time. Okay?"
PewDiePie's comments sparked a mixed reaction on Twitter.
PATRIARCHY AND WHITE SUPREMACY... @pewdiepie literally said cultural appropriation is not a thing 🤦🏾♀️This is minimizing countless communities that have been suppressed at the expense of white supremacists with the same mindset. Cultural appropriation EXISTS! PERIOD pic.twitter.com/owKwpCDCfa
— Ticia Tolas (@TolasTicia) December 10, 2019
okay pewdiepie basically put my thoughts into his words on cultural appropriation PERFECTLY in his latest video
— 𝔰𝔶𝔞𝔨𝔦𝔯𝔞𝔥🍒 (@notsykirh) December 10, 2019
Wtf does PewDiePie, a white man, know about cultural appropriation?
— Jingle Bo 🦌 (@astrozmbie) December 10, 2019
https://t.co/Rnx5kZC69n
— cut my couch into pieces this is my pillow fort (@Kelly1dm) December 12, 2019
He's not wrong, every single culture lends from others, whether it's cooking, music, religion, it's a daft concept that does need to be binned, let's concentrate on the real issues with race not this bullshit....
Merry Xmas? 😂#pewdiepie is right
Cultural appropriation doesn't exist. Unless people are demeaning it it's not offensive. It's good that people celebrate others culture.
— power rangers megazord (@BenfeitoNathan) December 11, 2019
In the video, PewDiePie also spoke out about religion, commenting on a post about atheists. "I don’t know what I would consider myself religiously but, regardless, the whole atheist calling out religious people – it’s so fucking cringe," he explained.
"Oh yeah? Well if there's no God then [blowing raspberry] take your fedora and eat it. I don’t want to hear it."
