PewDiePie announces break from YouTube because he's 'very tired'
The 30-year-old vlogger announced he will be going on hiatus in the New Year in his most recent PewsNews video.
Monday 16 December 2019 05:46, UK
PewDiePie has announced he is taking a break from YouTube because he is "tired".
The Swedish vlogger and comedian, real name Felix Kjellberg, found fame through his videos playing Minecraft and other games, and has amassed more than 102 million subscribers and 24 billion video views.
In his most recent PewsNews video, the 30-year-old told his viewers he will be going on hiatus in the New Year.
He said: "I am taking a break from YouTube next year. I wanted to say it in advance because I made up my mind."
He added: "I'm tired. I'm feeling very tired. I don't know if you can tell. Just so you know, early next year I'll be a way for a little while. I'll explain that later but I wanted to give a heads up."
Kjellberg hinted back in August that he was planning to take a break from making videos.
He said: "I do think it would be good for me to take a break at some point. It would be nice to not have YouTube in my brain for the first time in 10 years."
The star has been embroiled in several media controversies over the years, and faced accusations of antisemitism after including Nazi imagery in a series of videos in 2017.
It lead to him being dropped from a number of endorsement deals as well as a loss of subscribers.
YouTube bosses scrapped a planned series with him and he was later dropped from a lucrative deal with Disney.
At the time, ADL chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt commended Disney for cutting ties with him.
He said: "PewDiePie is entitled to his views, but neither Disney nor any other company has any obligation to support his wide dissemination of hate speech."
Earlier this year, the Swede said he was "sickened" by a reference to his channel made in a video posted by the alleged gunman behind the Christchurch mosque attacks.
At the beginning of footage, the man said: "Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie."
Despite those controversies, the YouTuber - who married his longtime girlfriend in London in August - topped a list of the 100 most influential people in digital media this year.