PewDiePie hits out at company over KSI Meme Review copyright claim

Brent Koepp

Popular YouTuber Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg was stunned after a company copyright claimed his Meme Review with JJ ‘KSI’ Olatunji. The Swede lost all the revenue for the upload due to their awful performance of “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic. 

[jwplayer mgzBNoPb]

On November 22, PewDiePie teamed up with fellow YouTube star KSI for an epic Meme Review. The duo tackled everything from British culture to Olatunji’s boxing match with Logan Paul.

Kjellberg later revealed on Instagram that the popular video had been copyright claimed by a company. The personality called the move “bulls**t” after the corporation took all the revenue over their Titanic joke.

Screenshot of YouTubers PewDiePie and KSI playing instruments.
The YouTubers’ awful performance of My Heart Will Go On got the video claimed for copyright.

PewDiePie’s Meme Review with KSI was a major hit on the platform, pulling in over 7.3 million views in just a few days. Fans of both YouTube creators were treated to a hilarious collaboration. However, the duo’s “attempt” to perform My Heart Will Go On on a flute and alpine horn caused the video to get claimed.

Kjellberg revealed the issue on his Instagram story on November 25. “So I got a claim on my KSI video. At the end, we played My Heart Will Go On,” he said, before playing a clip of their awful performance to demonstrate how absurd the claim was. “It’s too similar!” he joked.

It turns out the YouTuber had appealed the claim, but was denied. “So I appealed it, because its bulls**t why, and they rejected it! This is actually infringing on copyright according to this company!” he exclaimed, before breaking into laughter.

The 31-year-old explained that the company was now going to get 100% of the money made off the popular upload. “So all the revenue now goes to this company for the entire video. Like, what? Yeah, I just thought it was bulls**t, I don’t even know.”

The whole scenario is made all the more ridiculous when you consider that the Titanic joke was only a few seconds in a 26 minute upload. The fact that the company now gets to own the entire video is a good example how YouTube’s content ID system can sometimes be flawed.

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