PewDiePie blurts out N-word during video game live stream, faces new backlash

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - PewDiePie, who maintains the most popular channel on YouTube, used a racial slur while playing a video game in a live stream Sunday -- and the Swedish vlogger is again being blasted by critics.

While playing PlayerUnknown's Battleground, PewDiePie (real name: Felix Kjellberg) said about an opponent who was shelling him: "What a f--ing n---... sorry, but what the f--." He then added, "I don't mean that in a bad way."

The latest controversy comes after Kjellberg in February lost his deals with Disney's Maker Studios and YouTube in the wake of his ill-advised pranks to pay random strangers to spout anti-Semitic sentiments and after reports of his videos featuring Nazi imagery. PewDiePie's channel has more than 57 million subscribers currently.

After reports circulated Sunday about PewDiePie's uttering the n-word, Campo Santo co-founder Sean Vanaman, whose studio develops the game Firewatch, tweeted that plans to file DMCA takedown requests to try to remove all videos and streams of Kjellberg playing his company's title.

Vanaman also tweeted, "I am sick of this child getting more and more chances to make money off of what we make" and that PewDiePie is "worse than a closeted racist: he's a propagator of despicable garbage that does real damage to the culture around this industry."

PewDiePie has not yet responded to the latest controversy.

After the backlash in February over his anti-Semitic posts, PewDiePie issue an apology while also attacking the media reporting on his attempts at humor out of context.

"I think of the content that I create as entertainment, and not a place for any serious political commentary," Kjellberg wrote. "I know my audience understand that and that is why they come to my channel. Though this was not my intention, I understand that these jokes were ultimately offensive."