I'm gonna use this as a springboard for something i've been thinking about for a while. ERA, feel free to correct me if i'm wrong/misunderstanding the situation.
I've come to believe that there's a group of people that have latched on to PDP as a way of doing "soft-recruitment" by introducing the following ideas to normal PDP fans:
- "Virtue Signaling"
- "The left just wants to shut down anything they don't agree with"
- "PC culture is out of control"
These ideas introduce the normal fans to more politically inclined/radicalized YouTubers and in turn these new YouTubers pick up where these "recruiters" left off by introducing the more racist rhetoric.
Years ago these people wouldn't be caught dead referencing PDP memes cause he was seen as a blight on the internet. He was a "cringe-y" youtuber for kids that made money yelling into a mic and playing video games. They still don't truly care about him or his reputation, but they latch on to him for his audience and because they can hide behind him. Now as to why PDP might find it so "hard" to push back against this is that he's fully aware if he comes out against him these "recruiters" will drop him hard and move on to their next internet personality. Even now with his weak-ass rebuttal you see people posting stuff like "why did you cave in to their demands? Don't apologize."
Make no mistake. PDP is a shithead who has been playing with fire for the clicks. He has allowed this to happen his community by not wanting to appear as an "SJW" and all that.
Adding to that, the moment the Alt right starting latching on to him was when the Exposé by the WSJ released.
Before that, there was no connection between them, but starting with that incident, to be even more precise, the moment J.K.Rowling got into this, Pewdiepie was contacted by Sargon of Arkand and another alt-right youtuber to support him in order for him to be able to "strike back" against his critics.
That's where his personal decent into the alt-right rabbit hole started in public, his content followed soon after