Diss tracks are nothing new in the entertainment industry, but PewDiePie's recent "Coco" track (no relation to the Pixar movie of the same name) aimed at the children's YouTube channel Cocomelon has resulted in quite a lot of buzz, and not just because a YouTube channel aimed at kids with animated nursery songs isn't the likeliest of targets for a diss track. The video from the super successful YouTuber PewDiePie — whose real name is Felix Kjellberg — was removed from YouTube. In response to PewDiePie fan objections, YouTube explained the decision by citing its own policies.
In response to a tweet from a PieDiePie fan saying that the "Coco" diss track music video being taken down "hurts to hear," the TeamYouTube Twitter account explained the decision to pull the video, saying:
To clarify, this violated two policies 1) Child safety: by looking like it was made for kids but containing inappropriate content (incl violence) 2) Harassment: we allow criticism & also diss tracks in some cases, but w/ both policies in mind, this video crossed the line. Also, any reuploads of the original, including full length or partial reuploads, clips, etc will be removed too. Still images are ok.
TeamYouTube also included screenshots of YouTube's official policies regarding child safety and harassment, with relevant portions highlighted. The child safety section specifically mentions "content that targets young minors and families but contains sexual themes, violence, obscene, or other mature themes not suitable for young audiences," while the harassment and cyberbullying policy passages note content that "repeatedly encourages abusive audience behavior" and "harms the YouTube community by persistently inciting hostility between creators for personal financial gain" will be removed.
So, what was so bad about Felix Kjellberg's "Coco" aimed at Cocomelon? Well, the PewDiePie diss track music video is obviously no longer available on YouTube, but The Verge reports that Kjellberg used the video to attack Cocomelon content as well as mock kids who watch Cocomelon. The video also evidently ended with Kjellberg handing plastic weapons out to some kids.
While the music video itself is no longer available on YouTube, the audio of "Coco" is available on Spotify, and the track includes the line "your audience is just a bunch of motherfucking virgins" and doesn't hold back on the obscenities. Cocomelon has been growing at a remarkable rate, so it's not surprising that the channel caught Kjellberg's attention.The popular PewDiePie account has 109 million subscribers, while Cocomelon has 105 million.
As for PewDiePie, Felix Kjellberg posted a video titled "I Love Kids" on February 17 that sheds some light on his mindset when it comes to "Coco." In the video, Kjellberg comes right out and admits that he doesn't "actually care about Cocomelon" and that it "was fun for what it was" but doesn't want it to get out of control, asking viewers to "keep it civil" and "keep it fun."
With "Coco" taken down and YouTube determined to remove reuploads and clips, the diss track presumably won't get out of control, but the song is still out there even if the video isn't available on the platform, and YouTube taking the video down may have guaranteed that far more people know about PewDiePie and "Coco" than ever would have heard of it otherwise. For some viewing options that don't involve YouTube, be sure to check out our 2021 winter and spring premiere schedule.
