YouTube’s Felix ‘PewDiePie‘ Kjellberg has posted a video defending politician Janusz Korwin-Mikke, a far-right Polish MEP who was suspended from European parliament for branding women “weaker, smaller and less intelligent.”
PewDiePie, who has 56 million subscribers on YouTube and is the site’s most popular video maker, uploaded the video titled ‘This man has -1000 respect for women and the reason why might SHOCK you’ to his channel, in which he discussed Korwin-Mikke’s interview earlier this year with Good Morning Britain hosts Piers Morgan and Suzanne Reid. During the interview, Piers asks Korwin-Mikke if he believes that women are less intelligent than men, to which he replies: “Yes, of course.”
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Korwin-Mikke is a notorious figure in Polish politics, with him having previously been suspended from parliament as a result of sexist comments he made regarding the pay gap between men and women. Speaking in March, he said: “Of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent. They must earn less.” He later added that there is a “20th century stereotype that women have the same intellectual potential as men,” saying that it “must be destroyed because it is not true.” He was also suspended in 2015 for calling migrants “human garbage” (via Unian), suspended again for raising his hand in a Nazi salute in protest against a German-led EU transporting ticket (via Politico), and also suggested that Adolf Hitler was not aware of the holocaust during World War II. He has also previously been condemned by his fellow MEPs for stating that the “minimum wage should be destroyed as we would be treating 20 million young Europeans like n******.”
PewDiePie, who was the subject of controversy earlier this year following a Wall Street Journal report regarding “anti-Semitic” jokes featured in his videos, appears at the end of the video to discuss his thoughts on the interview with Korwin-Mikke. “The first time I watched this, my initial reaction was ‘holy s*** this guy is insane, what the f*** is he saying? He’s definitely sexist,'” he said. “But second time I watched it, interpreting all his stumbling and mumbling, I understand what he’s trying to say. Like he said many times, he’s not saying women should earn less, he’s saying they are because of these reasons.”
PewDiePie continued: “I don’t know if there’s a statistic that shows that women in general are less intelligent than men, and if there is I’d say ‘what’s the f***ing point?'”
PewDiePie then went on to discuss the gender wage gap. “What they did with the gender gap is they took all men, and all women, and did a median on it and said ‘oh okay, women earn this amount less than men in general,'” he said.”What they didn’t take into account was pretty much anything at all, like women working less hours, women choosing less high-paying jobs and so on.” He concluded: “If you’re a female watching this, I want you to know that you are not what the media or politicians or people on Twitter try to tell you… or even what I am [trying to tell you]. You’re not weak, you are not less privileged, you are strong. I think it’s a real unhealthy way of looking at things. What happened to ‘I am a woman hear me roar?’ It’s become ‘I am a woman, I earn less than men.'”
Janusz Korwin-Mikke was previously suspended from parliament for saying that women are less intelligent than men, along with calling migrants “human garbage.”
PewDiePie didn’t discuss Korwin-Mikke’s comments outside of his interview with Good Morning Britain‘s hosts, instead opting to frame him as having been misrepresented by Morgan and wrongly framed as a sexist for having divergent views in regards to the reality of the gender wage gap. Considering that Korwin-Mikke’s background and history of sexist comments is readily available to anyone who performs a quick Google search, it’s questionable that this information did not appear in PewDiePie’s video discussing the politician’s views, considering that they’re clearly relevant to any discussion regarding whether or not the Polish MEP is sexist.
Since the Wall Street Journal article, PewDiePie has frequently slammed the media for their reporting upon him, branding himself a “rookie comedian” and admitting that he “makes mistakes,” but also saying that outlets should focus upon “actual hatred” rather than his videos. However, with 56 million subscribers the YouTuber has an incredible reach across a wide audience who value his opinions, with him being the face of the video-sharing site as a result. Him defending the opinions of Janusz Korwin-Mikke to this huge audience is therefore noteworthy, regardless of his perception of himself as an amateur comedian.
Watch the video below:
