WTF is Wrong With You? Ruby Franke, Jodi Hildebrandt and YouTube edition.

YouTube celebrities are a kind of accessible celebrity that exist on the margins of fame, and YT content creators do some really fucked up stuff sometimes that captures the world's attention. Remember when Logan Paul went to the Japanese suicide forest? Or when James Charles was canceled for being outed as a predator? Of course, you do if you pay close attention to gossip. However, superstars need to be A to B (ish) list for us in the Manor, okay C list too, for us to care. YTers don't even register on the alphabet. Though at times, they behave poorly, and that's when we might care about what they do. At the moment, this woman is famous, big time famous, but not for what she intended. She's renowned in the only way YouTubers become famous-acting atrociously or criminally. 

Ruby Franke is a former American family vlogger who produced the now-defunct YouTube judgy-as-hell channel ConneXions/8 Passengers along with her crooked business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt. They hosted a conservative mom's "support group" podcast that gave desperate mothers strict advice about parenting. Jodi is a licensed mental health counselor who claims to teach people how to improve their lives by being honest, responsible, and humble, and she was supposed to bring expertise to the show. Ruby's husband, Crazy Eyes Kevin, is on the show, enabling and supporting his wife even though later he pretends that he wasn't aware of the horrific things the two are now accused of. This brings me to the other "stars" of the show: Ruby and Kevin's six unfortunate children. 

I watched some clips over the past three weeks, wondering what to do with this story. We talk about celebrities, so here is one quasi-celebrity making headlines. After mulling it over, I wrote something for the community because the story is everywhere and isn't dying down. 

On August 30, 2023, Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested and charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse. In addition to the charges of aggravated child abuse against Ruby and Jodi, there have been further allegations and revelations about Franke's family life. Documents detailing Ruby Franke's alleged child abuse have been released. It is shocking and depraved. YouTube viewers complained to YT and Utah social services for years about what the women were doing. Many desperately tried to help these poor children, but Ruby, Kevin, Jodi, and YT were making millions from these videos. Hence, the incentive to intervene was low, and greed was much more important than the welfare of the children.   

My questions about YouTube's ethics and moral responsibilities pushed me further to discuss this since it is a theme with them. What is the line between a fun parenting TV show and one as toxic as this was? Or is there a line? Does this include children of famous celebrities who get constantly papped? And yes, celebrity parents can stop their kids from being papped. It is a conscious decision to allow it. Simple. Don't ring up the paps, disguising your voice and acting like a source with inside information. That could be a start. Stop planning them. Leave the kids at home. If the kids are part of their parent's brand, they are fair game.

Paps only know where these celebrities are if they are told. I have spent enough of my life in LA in the thick of celebrity hangouts and neighborhoods, and no paps are hiding in bushes or chasing them through the streets anymore. I was getting a smoothie once, and Sandra Bullock was in front of me, being lovely to the staff. I have seen Julia Roberts walking down the street free as a bird. Reece sitting in the outside area of a café in plain view with no paps. Keanu in a club. Tori Spelling in a bar, just to name the first ones that come to mind. Farmer's Markets? No. Do not believe them when they pretend to be hunted. A paparazzi in an interview even said that social media has made their jobs almost obsolete, so they work in concert with the celebrity for a win-win situation. The million dollar shot is scarce today, a relic from the pre-2010.

With this in mind, should Mommy vlogs or Parent vlogs exist? The kids have no say in it and don't get one cent of the revenue. No trust funds like child actors or residuals come their way. Their parent is making a decision that will infect affect their entire lives without any financial consideration for them. Once an image is out there, there is no way to stop it from circulating or someone from using it for commercial purposes. A woman in the comment section of a podcast I listen to allowed her sonogram photo and the photo of the same baby at 9 months old to be used in a story about childbirth. They asked her because her little boy looked cherubic and photogenic. That image was stolen by the Right to Life movement and given a new narrative, and it has spread through their networks and used to prove their political point. The horrified woman is a Leftist and has exhausted all avenues and given up trying to find the sources behind it. It is like a hydra; chop down one head, and it grows back twofold.  

Celebrities, with all their power, would be helpless to stop the same thing from happening to their kids. Admittedly, YouTube's family vlogs are much worse in many ways because the kids interact with their parents much more personally, and their lives are captured for the world to experience right along with them. Remember the parents that rehomed their autistic adopted son? Or DaddyOFive, who used to prank the same kid repeatedly, filming his meltdowns and crying? Ruby withheld food constantly, and in one episode, she made her child sleep on the bathroom floor. There is already an element of shame when no one is around, but what about the ENTIRE UNIVERSE witnessing your childhood pain and trauma. Ruby grins and giggles about denying them food and, in one scene, tells her terrified 4-year-old she will chop the head off her favorite stuffed animal while making a chopping motion with her fingers on the neck of the plushie. What was this maniacal monster doing to get them to comply to be on the show? It is too much to contemplate. My favorite Psychologist on YouTube said she is likely a Sadist, and he isn't one to attempt to label anyone. Her eyes would shine with malice, and a smile would creep across her face. She was enjoying it far too much. 

Ruby and Jodi were making a lot of money from the show because you can imagine it kept people riveted in disbelief and horror. YouTube is famous for its long list of infractions that will cause it to cancel someone's show, but this didn't cross the mark? Ruby and Jodi abused the children, but YouTube gave them a platform, money, and legitimacy. We haven't seen the last of these shows because of Cash over Kids, amirite?

(photos:FB, ConneXions, X)