Firewatch Dev Filing DMCA Against PewDiePie After Use of Racial Slur

Sean Vanaman, co-founder of Campo Santo and co-director of Firewatch, announced via Twitter that the indie company will be filing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg, for his use of the “N word” while streaming PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. With PewDiePie’s massive amount of subscribers (57 million), the backlash to his use of the slur quickly spread across several forums and social media outlets.

We're filing a DMCA takedown of PewDiePie's Firewatch content and any future Campo Santo games.

— Sean Vanaman (@vanaman) September 10, 2017

“We’re filing a DMCA takedown of PewDiePie’s Firewatch content and any future Campo Santo games,” the Tweet reads. In the thread, Vanaman continues, writing “there is a bit of leeway you have to have with the internet when u wake up every day and make video games. There’s also a breaking point…I am sick of this child getting more and more chances to make money off of what we make.” Vanaman also went on to say how PewDiePie is damaging to the industry and is urging other, much larger, developers to take a stand and “cut him off from the content that has made him a millionaire.”

Over the last few months, PewDiePie has been under fire for several other reasons, including antisemitic jokes and poking fun at Nazi references. In the midst of the backlash for that, and in losing his partnership with Disney, the YouTube star made a video entitled “My Response”, which has amassed 20M views. While this isn’t the first time PewDiePie (or any huge YouTuber, for that matter) has uttered racial slurs on his channel, it has mostly been overlooked by members of the BroArmy, who have been accustomed to his brash and offensive sense of humor for years.

PewDiePie may have a huge audience, but he appears most influential to young teens and even some kids. While his behavior and slurs have been somewhat excused in the past, they can also start set a dangerous precedent for what’s “acceptable” in the gaming community for younger audiences; and for many, the behavior just reinforces the bigger problem with racial attacks and language that is experienced with online games every day.