Bitch Lasagna

In 2018, the YouTube channel for Indian music label T-Series began rapidly gaining subscribers, approaching the subscriber count of Swedish YouTuber and web comedian PewDiePie, who at the time had the most-subscribed channel on YouTube.^[7] In response to this, PewDiePie declared a competition between him and T-Series.^[8][9] Fans, including celebrities and other YouTubers, showed their support for each channel by encouraging others to subscribe.^[1] During the competition, both channels gained a significant number of subscribers at a short amount of time, with PewDiePie gaining millions of subscribers each month.^[10] As one of his initial efforts to prevent T-Series from winning the competition, PewDiePie created a diss track against T-Series in collaboration with music producer Party in Backyard. The song, titled "Bitch Lasagna," was released on 5 October 2018 via YouTube.^[11][12]

For the rest of the competition, the two channels surpassed each other in subscriber count several times, sometimes for only a few hours.^[13] In May 2019, when T-Series overtook PewDiePie as the most-subscribed channel on the platform.^[14][a] At the same time, PewDiePie declared T-Series the winner of the competition.^[16]

"Bitch Lasagna" is a hip hop diss track that is two minutes and fourteen seconds long.^[17] The title of the song references a viral Facebook Messenger screenshot, popularized on Reddit, in which an Indian man, in broken English, demands nude photos, and, when his messages go unanswered, he posts bitch lasagna (lasagna might have been an approximation to the parting phrase hasta lasagna, but without punctuation the post looked like he was calling her a bitch lasagna).^[18][19] In the song, PewDiePie insults T-Series and their video content, makes references to contemporary Indian stereotypes and accuses the company of using subscriber bots to gain fake subscriptions. The Indian background of T-Series was also mocked, such as in the line "Your language sounds like it come [sic] from a mumble rap community", which have been described as racist by some media publications, as well as in a court ruling from the High Court of Delhi that sided with T-Series.^[20][21]

As PewDiePie vs T-Series coverage grew in the mainstream media, news organizations covered "Bitch Lasagna" for its role in the feud. Vox accused the lyrics of containing "overt and implied racism," which they said pervaded PewDiePie's fans' support for his channel against T-Series.^[22] Rolling Stone reported that PewDiePie was accused of using anti-Indian slurs in the song. They continued, "many have argued ... that his use of "ironic" antisemitic or racist humor in his videos may serve as a gateway for subscribers to start seeking out more overtly extremist content," which was similar to comments made by Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, who they quoted as saying, "It’s possible he’s an early stepping stone to radicalization for a segment of his audience he's nowhere nearly as cited as a stepping stone to radicalization as an individual like [alt-right YouTuber and podcaster] Stefan Molyneux, for example."^[23]

On 10 April 2019, the song was banned in India as a result of PewDiePie releasing a second diss track against T-Series, "Congratulations". T-Series asserted the tracks were "defamatory, disparaging, insulting, and offensive" and that the songs contained "repeated comments... abusive, vulgar, and also racist in nature." The Delhi High Court granted the injunction against the two songs, noting that, in communication with T-Series after the release of "Bitch Lasagna", PewDiePie had apologized for posting the video and had "assured that he [was] not planning any more videos on the same line."^{[24][25][26][27]}

In August 2019, it was reported that T-Series and PewDiePie had settled their legal disputes outside of court.^[28]

On November 7, 2018, JusReign, a Canadian YouTuber, released a video and song titled "In Defense of T-Series", in which he humorously criticized PewDiePie.^[29]

On January 1, 2019, CarryMinati, an Indian YouTuber, launched a diss track titled "Bye PewDiePie", in which he also criticized PewDiePie.^[30]

• PewDiePie videography
• List of diss tracks § YouTube
• List of viral music videos
• Ethnic joke
• Anti-Indian sentiment