A plane flew over Manhattan with a giant 'Subscribe to Pewdiepie' banner the day after Pewdiepie begged his fans to stop using the meme

PewDiePie/YouTube

Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg.

• A plane flew over lower Manhattan on Monday with a banner that read "$4."
• The "Subscribe to PewDiePie" meme was started as a joke hashtag based around YouTube's most popular creator,$4 competing with an Indian music label for subscribers.
• The phrase was co-opted in two tragic instances: To deface a World War II memorial, and in the Christchurch, New Zealand terrorist attack.
• Though $4, it has taken on a life of its own.
• $4

The battle over a top YouTuber's name is taking to the sky - literally: A plane flew over lower Manhattan on Monday morning carrying a banner that read "Subscribe to PewDiePie."

The phrase is part of an ongoing meme campaign started by Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg, the Swedish video creator behind the world's most popular YouTube channel. An Indian music label, T-Series, has been challenging Kjellberg's subscriber count in a continuous battle for top YouTube channel.

Images of the plane flying over Manhattan first surfaced on Twitter on Monday:

Notably, the phrase "Subscribe to PewDiePie" has been associated directly with two tragic events: The defacing of a World War II memorial, and it was used directly by the Christchurch, New Zealand shooter.

Due to that association, $4.

That apparently was not enough to stop someone from hiring a plane to promote his channel:

The creator of the giant banner appears to be an earnest superfan (who either hasn't gotten or is disregarding Pewdipie's message to stop using the phrase) as opposed to a troll looking to stir up trouble. But as with so many things on the internet, it's not entirely clear.

THE $4 PLANE IS FLYING! $4 $4

- #THANKYOUPEWDIEPIE (@subgap) $4

THERE IT IS!

Source:$4 $4

- #THANKYOUPEWDIEPIE (@subgap) $4

29TH OF APRIL WILL BE INTERNATIONAL PEWDIEPIE DAY. THE BANNER IS READY TO BE FLOWN. FOLLOW $4
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️$4 $4

- #THANKYOUPEWDIEPIE (@subgap) $4

NOW WATCH: $4

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