YouTube star PewDiePie mocks Deaf TikToker
Callie Frye, Daily Moth Reporter: YouTube personality and Swedish gamer, PewDiePie whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, who has 111 million YouTube subscribers and has caused a number of controversies over the years, posted a recent video on his channel titled “My Dog Cringes at TikToks.”
He shared his reaction to a number of TikTok videos he found “cringe”. One of the short clips featured Scarlet May’s July 18 video.
In the video, May shared a humorous interaction with a fast-food worker at a drive-thru restaurant. May was signing while wearing long silver acrylic nails. Scarlet May is deaf and a TikTok star with about 6.2 million followers. She tells stories in both English and American Sign Language in her TikTok videos.
When Kjellberg watched May’s video clip, just a few seconds in he said, “No, I am not listening to this.” He held his dog, Maya, and said in a certain voice, “Look, she has your crazy nails, Mays!” He also waved around the dog’s paws and it appeared that he tried to imitate ASL.
The video has caused people to become upset and said he was mocking a deaf voice and sign language. Kjellberg has since deleted May’s particular clip but kept all the others.
May signed a response on her TikTok account. She questioned why her clip was edited out and asked why didn’t he admit his mistake and apologize. She also said it was very weird, very unnecessary, but that she was not surprised because she was used to it.
She shared that she is actively trying to normalize signing while wearing long nails in the Deaf community and was disappointed that a creator had to pull them down.
[Clip, Credit: TikTok/Scarlet_May.1]
Scarlet May: It’s been a big issue in the deaf community. I’ve been trying to normalize and put it out that using nails while signing is normal. It’s okay. But then a big creator comes on here and puts us a million steps back so it’s very frustrating.
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PewDiePie’s YouTube video had a pinned comment in which he apologized and said he “had no clue she was deaf, but kinda dumb of me to not realize. The voice I did for my dog is the same voice I’ve given her for years. Anyway honest mistake, my bad.”
Scarlet May said, “We all live and learn. If he didn’t know before [that I am Deaf], he definitely knows now.”
PewDiePie Video: https://youtu.be/n2nTd1VbsLM
Scarlet May Videos:
https://www.tiktok.com/@scarlet_may.1/video/7121822623658528043
https://www.tiktok.com/@scarlet_may.1/video/7125174377926200622
https://www.tiktok.com/@scarlet_may.1/video/7125584651665607979