YouTube cancels PewDiePie’s original series following Nazi controversy

YouTube’s biggest star, PewDiePie, has always flirted with controversy. But his recent use of Nazi imagery and anti-Semitic humor went too far for his corporate partners. On Monday evening Disney announced it was severing ties with PewDiePie, and now The Verge can report that YouTube is also cutting its business relationship with its most famous face.

PewDiePie was set to release the second season of his original series, Scare PewDiePie, a YouTube Red exclusive that the video giant paid to produce. The release of that show has now been cancelled, according to a YouTube spokesperson. PewDiePie is also being removed from the Google Preferred advertising program, which is reserved for its bigger and more marketable creators. That will have a direct hit on PewDiePie’s earnings, as the Preferred program is home to brand advertising that generates more revenue than typical YouTube advertising.

PewDiePie won’t lose his channel or his more than 50 million subscribers, and he can continue to monetize them through regular advertising. But YouTube did remove ads from the videos that set off this uproar, and will no doubt be keeping a close eye on whatever their provocative poster boy uploads in the near future. PewDiePie has also taken down at least three of the videos which contained Nazi imagery or anti-Semitic material.

The turn of events could prove a setback for YouTube’s subscription service, YouTube Red, which was heavily marketed in conjunction with PewDiePie.