‘You’ll regret making this enemy’: PewDiePie claims Pakistan as ally in YT battle v Indian T-series

In a segment that the YouTube star was eventually forced to delete, PewDiePie stated that Pakistan was on his side in the battle against rival Indian music channel T-series, striking a nerve with some of his fan base.

PewDiePie, aka Felix Kjellberg, has been locked in a dead heat for the highest subscriber count on YouTube with the Bollywood label for some time, but many felt he took the rivalry too far in a recent episode of his web show.

“Basically what happened was that after the Pulwama terror attack, T-Series removed Pakistani singers’ songs,” he explained, implying that T-series had discriminated against artists from Pakistan as a result of the current crisis.

India blamed Pakistan for the attack, but Pakistan condemned the attack and denied any connection to it… But the most important thing out of all of this, is that the Pakistanis are on our side. Pakistan is on our side, T-Series. You’ll regret making this enemy.

Whereas the YouTube kingpin claims his comments were only about Pakistani artists and their relationship to T-series, a considerable number of people felt the content-creator was making an unwelcome dip into the countries’ bilateral relations. PewDiePie eventually edited out the segment, and offered an apology.

Nonetheless, the blowback on Twitter was significant, with many saying the comments were so insensitive that they were unsubscribing altogether. Some used the incident as an excuse to rally subscribers for T-series.

Others felt that people were being a bit sensitive regarding the segment, and that heightened emotions around the international crisis had caused people to misinterpret the comments.

Regardless of his intentions, damage was definitely done. A live counter which tallies the rival channels’ subscribers shows that the gap is steadily closing, with T-series only a couple thousand subscribers away from dethroning the king and taking the coveted top spot that PewDiePie has held fairly consistently since 2013.

Tensions between India and Pakistan reached a critical point after New Delhi claimed Islamabad had been complicit in a terrorist attack at the beginning of the year that left some 40 Indian soldiers dead. Tensions have mounted to the brink of war, with the long-time enemies resorting to military action.

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