PewDiePie makes incredible gesture for charity in honor of Keanu Reeves
PewDiePie, YouTube / CD Projekt RedYouTube king Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg, like many across the internet, is currently obsessed with A-List actor Keanu Reeves, following his meme-worthy appearance at E3 2019 – but he’s doing much more than making ‘Meme Review’ videos about the John Wick lead.
PewDiePie uploaded yet another video discussing the celebrity on June 17, following his initial ‘Meme Review’ episode discussing Reeves, which gave any and all Keanu memes a 10/10.
This time, PewDiePie took a deep dive into Reeves’ life story, noting that the actor had experienced a rough past leading up to his current stardom in the mainstream media.
Reeves’ youth saw a troubled relationship with his parents, with his father abandoning his family when he was just three years old and his mother remarrying multiple times, leaving him in the care of nannies and babysitters.
Later in life, Reeves’ girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth to their stillborn child, later dying in a motor vehicle accident – while his sister fought for her life against Leukemia, ultimately surviving the disease.
It was due to these harrowing details that PewDiePie decided to donate all profits made from his video toward the Leukemia Research Foundation – as well as a personal detail from his own life.
“It’s where Keanu donated a lot of money,” Kjellberg explained. “His sister went through Leukemia and she survived. It took my grandad. I thought that could be a nice ending to it, and have a nice Keanu effect.”
[Timestamp: 16:22 for mobile viewers]
PewDiePie also noted that the now-famous heckler at Keanu’s E3 presentation was offered an early copy of Cyberpunk 2077, who ultimately turned the offer down, asking the developers to donate to charity, instead.
This wouldn’t be the first time Kjellberg has delved into charity by far; in fact, the Swede even orchestrated a massive charity drive for ‘Child Rights and You’ in December 2018, an India-based organization founded to benefit struggling children.
PewDiePie’s initial goal of £150,000 was promptly surpassed, raising over $246,000 for the charity in the midst of his heated battle with Bollywood music label T-Series, who ultimately took his crown of being YouTube’s most subscribed channel in late March.