The YouTuber and author Alicia “Alicia Joe” Joester has made a drastic decision and removed 80 videos from her channel. She no longer wants to be associated with the RTL content shown in them.
What kind of YouTuber is she? Alicia Joe is an opinion YouTuber who critically engages with topics such as the media landscape and influencers. On YouTube, the 27-year-old has 550,000 subscribers who follow her analyses.
Now Alicia Joe has deleted almost a third of her videos. The reason: They contained content from RTL shows.
Alicia Joe wants nothing to do with RTL content
What kind of videos were they? The deleted videos featured content from the RTL Group. This includes, among others, the channels RTL, RTL 2, and the online offering RTL+, and is known in Germany for reality TV shows like “The Bachelor” or “Love Island”.
Alicia Joe reacted satirically to these kinds of shows in the deleted videos between 2019 and 2020.
Why did she delete the videos? As the YouTuber explains, the videos were always a form of criticism for her. However, that wasn’t perceived that way: For some viewers, it was rather about entertainment, and at RTL, they seemed more pleased with the free publicity.
For Alicia Joe, that was fine; she felt she had expressed her criticism and contributed her part in her eyes. However, in May 2021, she distanced herself from this content and announced that she no longer wanted to comment on “trash TV”.
What has changed now? In light of some decisions by the RTL Group, Alicia Joe has the impression that they have “thrown overboard any morals and any sense of responsibility.” This specifically relates to two shows.
As early as late 2022, the YouTuber criticized the RTL+ format “Dubai Diaries.” The show gave a positive platform to the controversial influencer Simon Desue. Simon Desue has been criticized since he moved to Dubai in 2019 and has since made money with his German audiences without having to pay taxes here.
The trigger for the deletion of the videos was, however, a second show that didn’t actually exist: the planned docu-soap with Michael Wendler. The Schlagersänger is under criticism for anti-Semitic comments and conspiracy theories. Although RTL2 ultimately decided against the format, Alicia Joe now no longer wants to be seen as “positive” in connection with the channels.
You can watch the full video here:
How is this received? Her fans admire Alicia Joe for this consistent step. Many support her decision: Her newer videos are anyway more valuable and interesting. Also, the way the YouTuber reflects on her old content is well received. In total, the video has already received 541,000 views and 36,000 upvotes (via YouTube, as of March 24, 5:00 PM).
Alicia Joe was also part of a group of content creators who teamed up with the YouTuber and Twitch streamer Gnu to talk about the sexualization of women on platforms like Reddit. She explained what legal consequences creating certain content can have.
Twitch streamer Gnu is disgusted by content about her on reddit – “No limits are set”
