PewDiePie banned in China over Winnie The Pooh meme about President Xi Jinping

21 October 2019, 15:26

Winnie The Pooh is censored and banned in China after memes comparing the cartoon bear to President Xi Jinping went viral.

Well, it's happened. It took a while but PewDiePie has managed to add himself to a long list of celebrities and internet personalities that have been banned from China.

On Friday (Oct 18), PewDiePie–real name Felix Kjellberg–revealed that his videos and content would no longer be accessible in China and it's all because he laughed at a meme that likened the Chinese president Xi Jinping to Winnie The Pooh.

“Well boys, we did it. I’m banned from China," he said in his recent YouTube video. "After I spoke about the Hong Kong protests, and mocked their leader as looking like Winnie the Pooh, I got banned from China.”

He continued: "That’s right. Now if you search anything PewDiePie related on any Reddit related forum in China or a YouTube related video, it will just be completely blank."

Pewdiepie Is BANNED in China

The ban comes after an episode of Meme Review where Felix focused on the Hong Kong protests and featured a meme that likened the President to Winnie The Pooh.

A few years ago, China banned Winnie The Pooh following comparisons between the cartoon bear and the President. Memes began flooding the internet and were soon censored. Pooh has now become a symbol of protest in China with people using the bear as a form of resistance against Xi and the Communist party.

While he knew that doing this kind of content could end up with him being banned from the country, PewDiePie apologised to his Chinese fans who would no longer be able to see him content. "I'm laughing but I'm sorry if you're in China trying to watch my videos. That kinds sucks."

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: "just found out im banned in china. shit fucking sucks so hard dude."

PewDiePie has now been added to the long, long list of actors, singers and celebrities who have been banned from the country. Recently, DJ Zedd was also banned after liking a tweet from the South Park account. The animated show is also banned.