YouTube star PewDiePie uses racial slur

The world's highest-paid YouTube star, PewDiePie, has used the "n-word" during an online broadcast.

The 27-year-old Swede - real name Felix Kjellberg - could be heard using the racial slur while he was playing a video game during a live streaming.

After using the term he appeared to recognise his error, saying: "I don't mean that in a bad way."

PewDiePie, who has more than 57 million subscribers, previously had to defend himself over anti-Semitism allegations.

On another occasion, he was suspended from Twitter for so-called Islamic State jokes.

Sean Vanaman, whose Campo Santo studio develops the game Firewatch, tweeted that he intends to file DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) reports in an attempt to remove all videos and streams of Kjellberg playing his company's title.

PewDiePie amassed his following by posting recordings of himself playing video games and providing commentary.

In February, some of his videos were found to contain Nazi references or anti-Semitic imagery, which resulted in Disney cutting ties with him.

He is reported to have made $15m (£11m) through YouTube last year and has accrued billions of hits since he joined YouTube in 2010.

He had been associated with Disney via Maker Studios, a company with a network of YouTube stars.

In February, Disney said that while Mr Kjellberg had a reputation for being provocative and irreverent, some of the videos he made were "inappropriate".

In one of the controversial videos, Mr Kjellberg paid two people through a crowd-sourcing website to hold up a sign which read "Death to all Jews".

PewDiePie accepted the material was offensive, but said he did not support "any kind of hateful attitudes".

He said that the anti-Semitism claims were "insane" and "unfair", adding: "I am sorry for the words I used as I know they offended people."

The row led to YouTube cancelling the release of Mr Kjellberg's new series, Scare PewDiePie 2.