PewDiePie is a the currently the most subscribed YouTuber. He started off making gaming videos (LetsPlay, reviews), but has since really "retired" from that and

PewDiePie is a the currently the most subscribed YouTuber. He started off making gaming videos (LetsPlay, reviews), but has since really "retired" from that and occasionally makes comedy style vlogs. He likely has a very large and diverse fanbase, all of whom are probably coming into age now (Someone who watched PewDiePie at age 13 when he became the most popular YouTuber in 2013, would be 19 now). Around sometime last year, PewDiePie came under a string of bad publicity which linked him to Nazi's and an incident where he called someone a nggr when he died in a video game. He has since "apologized" and tried to make things right, but whats done is done. My hypothesis is, due to his "persecution" PewDiePie is now very popular as an alt-right martyr - he can't fully come out and say he's full on white supremacist because of the media boogeyman, but, to his supporters, he's clearly on their side (whether he is or not, I don't know, and it's irrelevant). As a result he gets a lot of lip service from a lot of notorious individual (regardless if he wants it), due to his nature as a meme in these communities. Again, I'm not pretending to know where PewDiePie lies in all this, and he could very well be supporting or indifferent to this whole thing. However I do believe this whole thing might be larger than him at this point.