The German YouTuber ApoRed does not receive preferential treatment from Fortnite developer Epic. With an attack on the German community manager, he wants to achieve that.
This is ApoRed: Ahman Nadim Ahadi is one of the largest German-speaking YouTubers. His channel has over 2.4 million subscribers. Recently, it mainly revolves around himself, his sneakers, how expensive an outfit is, and his move.
He became known and notorious with “prank videos.” He threw a bag at passersby and implied that there was a bomb inside. This led to problems with the law (via welt.de).
As a gaming YouTuber “RedSama,” he mainly focuses on Fortnite. His style is similar to that of English-speaking YouTuber Ali-A. He has also faced accusations of clickbait: there are thumbnails where RedSama looks quite shocked at things and a lot of gameplay with commentary.
“He hates me to death”
This is ApoRed’s problem with Epic: In a 25-minute video, ApoRed sharply criticizes a senior employee of Epic Games, Daniel Seehuber.
Seehuber is likely the contact person for German-speaking influencers. He is Community Lead at Epic Games.
ApoRed presents his own perspective in the video. It becomes clear that he desires some privileges from Epic, which he believes he is entitled to because he has supported Fortnite for “so long” and has a large reach.
He wants:
- To be invited to the lucrative eSports tournament Fall Skirmish
- Permanent access to the exclusive Streamer Mode “Custom Game”, so he can play with his community in custom lobbies
- His contact person at Epic Games to respond to his messages immediately
- And preferential treatment for his friend “Steel”
The response from Epic: From the messages from Seehuber, which ApoRed reads out, it can be seen why Epic does not grant him preferential treatment:
- Epic distances itself from ApoRed. It is said that ApoRed is not “brandsafe.” This likely means that, due to previous behavior, such as the “There is a bomb in the bag” incident, he has received negative attention. Epic wants nothing to do with him.
- Additionally, a “clickbait video” by ApoRed about Fortnite is explicitly criticized. He titled it “Epic gives me the rarest skin.” In reality, ApoRed simply bought a PlayStation 4 bundle, which included the skin.
- Furthermore, Seehuber is said to not grant many of these privileges himself but rather others at Epic.
ApoRed makes it personal
ApoRed’s problem with Seehuber: ApoRed’s anger is directed not against Epic as a whole, but against his contact person there: ApoRed sees Epic’s rejection as a personal misbehavior on Seehuber’s part.
ApoRed feels he is treated “cheekily” by him. This has never happened to him in all his years on YouTube. Moreover, Seehuber is said to prefer other Fortnite YouTubers who are personally closer to him. ApoRed finds them “irrelevant.”
He considers Epic’s objections to be ridiculous. He feels entirely “brandsafe” and “authentic,” and has numerous collaborations with companies. ApoRed thinks Seehuber must have personal reasons for treating him this way. He accuses Seehuber of “hating him to death.”
ApoRed wants to apply pressure: In the video, ApoRed calls on his community to spam Seehuber on all social channels. Above all, they should inform Seehuber’s superiors.
Apparently, ApoRed wants to achieve Seehuber’s dismissal.
The opposite of “brandsafe”
YouTube colleague critically critiques ApoRed: Another well-known German YouTuber is “HandofBlood.” He sharply criticizes ApoRed. In a post on Twitter, HandofBlood advises his colleague to delete the video before he gets sued again.
For HandofBlood, it is clear why Epic does not support ApoRed. The idea that ApoRed is “brandsafe” is absolute nonsense. He is the opposite of “brandsafe” with his content.
Fortnite and YouTube is an interesting combination with explosive potential, as seen several times:
