PewDiePie – A young Swede makes internet history

Little is known about Felix Kjielbergs childhood. Only that he was born on October 24, 1989 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The son of an IT manager of a Swedish fashion chain, he later attended Chalmers Technical College, which he never finished.

He finally started posting Let’s Play videos of horror and action games on his YouTube channel PewDiePie in 2010. It only took two years and PewDiePie reached one million subscribers. Shortly after, he started posting vlogs and short comedy clips as well. It only took another twelve months and in 2013, PewDiePie was officially named the biggest YouTube channel of all time. He held that title until early 2019, when Indian record label T-Series came dangerously close to his throne as the most popular YouTube channel.

• 1989: Felix Kjielberg is born in Sweden
• 2010: Launch of the YouTube channel PewDiePie
• 2012: PewDiePie reaches 1 million subscribers
• 2013: PewDiePie is the biggest YouTube channel of all time
• 2019: PewDiePie loses title to T-Series

T-Series eventually overtook him, making PewDiePie the second most popular YouTube channel after almost 7 years, with 104 million subscribers. Still, this didn’t negatively affect the Swede’s success. On the contrary, in 2020, it continues to rank as one of the most watched YouTube channels of all time. Due to his long-standing popularity and extensive coverage of his persona, he has become one of the most famous online personalities of the 21st century and has even been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by the prestigious Time Magazine in the past.

Quick Facts: Funny name with a lot of impact

• Name: PewDiepPie
• Active since: 29.04.2010
• Subscribers: 104 million
• Views: 25.5 billion

With 250 million views, PewDiePie’s dissrap called “Bitch Lasagna” is the most watched video on his channel. This came about during the competition between him and YouTube channel T-Series. An online competition that we will explain to you in more detail below:

T-Series Rivalry: An Epic Online Battle

As we all know, the YouTube world not only loves a lot of glitter, but also just as much gossip. And that’s where PewDiePie and T-Series added fuel to the fire when it came to the most blatant showdown in internet history.

PewDiePie calls for competition with T-Series

When T-Series PewDiePie’s subscriber count got dangerously close in late 2018, he called for an online competition – a one-off rivalry ensued that remains in YouTube history as the only one of its kind. During the battle for the title of most subscribed YouTube channel of all time, YouTube icons like Logan Paul, MrBeast and Markiplier spoke out in support of PewDiePie.

• T-Series subscriber count comes close to PewDiePie
• He publishes a video and calls for competition
• American YouTube greats show solidarity

Drastic measures and unfair means

Numerous online campaigns and demonstrations in the streets followed. Even vandalism, online bullying and the use of malware did not shy away from the hardcore fans PewDiePies. During the competition, the subscriber numbers of both channels fluctuated steadily. Several times, T-Series overtook PewDiePie. However, the latter regained its throne as the most popular YouTube channel each time.

• There are public demonstrations and vandalism
• The subscriber number PewDiePies always fluctuates

Indian stars and starlets are outraged

The rivalry reached its climax when PewDiePie released his disruptive track “Bitch Lasagna”, which was peppered with anti-Indian lyrics. What many don’t know: The title comes from a famous screenshot of a Facebook Messenger conversation during which an Indian man with broken English sexually harasses a woman. When she ignores him and his obscene prompts and comments, he ends up insulting her with the words “Bitch Lasagna.” The song earned harsh criticism in the Indian media and numerous stars and starlets of the Indian YouTube scene publicly turned against Felix Kjielberg and his YouTube channel.

The PewDiePies and T-Series rivalry finally ended with T-Series winning on May 29, 2019.

• PewDiePie Releases His Diss Track “Bitch Lasagna”
• He recalls a viral Facebook post from the past
• Indian YouTubers show outrage
• Accusations of racism are raised
• May 29, 2019: T-Series wins

Of course, PewDiePie couldn’t let this sit silently, so he released another single with the trio from Lonely Island:

Jeffree Star: A story of glitter, drugs and rock’n’roll

The icon of the beauty community saw the light of day in 1985 in Los Angeles as Jeffree Lynn Steininger Jr. After the suicide of his father, it was mainly his mother Marra Shubyann Lindstrom Steininger who raised him. Already in his school days Jeffree Star had a lot of fun with make-up and earned his money as a musician, model and also if necessary as an unknown make-up artist for the greats of Hollywood. He met them on weekends in the hippest clubs of the city, which he visited regularly despite his young age and thanks to a fake ID.

When you take a closer look at his career, you wouldn’t expect the flashy Jeffree Star to be a make-up mogul one day. In the beginning, working with brushes and powder was simply a sideline. His real dream? To become a musician. So in 2009, Star released his first and, to date, only studio album. Although he was signed to the Konvict Muzik label shortly after, he left a few years later.

In November 2014, the former musician and now famous YouTuber officially became a businessman: The company Jeffree Star Cosmetics was born. He is currently one of the highest paid YouTubers of all time and recently earned a whopping 18 million dollars, according to Forbes – and that’s just through YouTube.

• 1985: Jeffree Star is born in Los Angeles
• 2006: Launch of the YouTube Channel
• 2009: Release of his first album
• 2010: Contract with Konvtict Muzik
• 2014: Launch of Jeffree Star Cosmetics

How the beauty icon lives today, you can see here in the video:

Quick Facts: Crass net worth

• Name: Jeffree Star
• Born: 15 November 1985
• Active since: 15.02.2006
• Subscribers: 18.1 million
• Total views: 2.16 billion
• Net worth: $75 million dollars

Biggest controversies: jealousy and online bullying

Jeffree Star has been involved in the YouTube world’s most blatant scandals from the very beginning. From racism to drug use to online bullying, he has left nothing out.

Kat von D: Two giants of American pop culture clash

For years, tattoo goddess Kat Von D and Jeffree Star made the Hollywood Hills unsafe together. But suddenly they had a ruthless split: in 2016, Von D unexpectedly posted a photo of Star with a big ‘no’ on his face and declared on Instagram that she no longer wanted any contact with him due to his drug use, racism and bullying. Of course, Star didn’t let this stand and accused Von D of envying the success on his successful make up collection. After a long back and forth, the feud remains unsettled to this day, and both Star and Von D have not commented on it since.

Nikkita Dragun, Laura Lee And Manny MUA: An Old Feud Escalates

Much like his friendship with Kat Von D, other relationships crumbled over the course of his career. For example, early in his career, Jeffree was part of a group of up-and-coming newcomers to the YouTube sphere: Laura Lee, Manny MUA, Nikkita Dragon, and Gabriel Zamora. In 2017, Star posted a series of tweets about an ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, describing Beauty YouTuber Laura Lee’s personality as ‘vicious’. The friendship went on the rocks and the entire clique distanced themselves from Star.

Rumors of failed investments and business friendships began to swirl. Although Jeffree Star was always portrayed as the culprit by the YouTube community, there were never any official statements. The feud was almost forgotten when YouTube legend Shane Dawson released a documentary series about Jeffree Star’s life.

A few days later, Star’s former friend Zamora posted a photo with Laura Lee, Manny MUA and Nikkita Dragun with the caption:

“Bitch is bitter because without him we’re doing better”

But the many new fans that Jeffree Star had gained thanks to the sympathetic documentary series quickly came to his support: In order to take revenge, they published old, racist tweets from the past of Dragons, Lees, Mannys and Zamoras. The latter publicly apologized for their racist statements at the time and are still dealing with some of the fallout from the scandal today.

Star has also been criticized in the past for racist statements, for which he apologizes in the following video from 2018: