There has been a rise in cancel culture this year, particularly among YouTubers. Cancel culture is exactly how it sounds, canceling someone’s career and questioning their character, most of the time by misjudgment and conformity. At the forefront of this 8 Passengers Youtube, family vlog has been compensated specifically, the mom Ruby Franke.
Who is “8 passengers”?
In 2015, a new family vlog channel on Youtube started, called “8 Passengers”, symbolizing eight people in their family. Living in Utah as religious Mormons, they have strong beliefs that many do not agree with. However, they were an uplifting family who was honest and loved vlogging to make memories. The videos would include milestones the children experienced, like the first baptism or family events, since Ruby’s side of the family also has vlog channels.
People, including myself, would feel comfortable watching the vlog as feeling like you know the family personally after watching daily vlogs. Understanding their life, personalities, and situations is essential, as all the people involved in canceling did not understand the family’s situation.
The Controversy
They started getting backlash when their son, Chad, a young teen at the time, got sent away for wilderness therapy for not behaving in school and being mean and disrespectful to his siblings. His parents decided with him, and when Chad came home, he expressed how much of a fantastic time he had and how much he connected with himself when disconnected from the outside world.
When Chad came home, he was great for a while but started misbehaving again, so after meeting with a therapist, they suggested Chad choose what he gets taken away, and he decided to sleep on the couch instead of his bed. This was filmed in a video which was the first massive spark of controversy.
8 passengers were on the verge of canceling for a while but continued to post, although the mean edits attention-seeking channels were posting; around a year later, they stopped posting weekly and eventually stopped altogether.
Currently Controversial, but Altogether Canceled
Ruby and her husband, Kevin Franke, joined “Connexions” with other couples to hold seminars for struggling couples in marriage. Jodi Hildebrant founded Connextions in 2012. Jodi received negative reviews from past clients and even had her license put on probation for 18 months. It is said that she was trying to manipulate couples into breaking up.
With over 2 million users subscribed to 8 Passengers on youtube, some may say Ruby is being manipulated by Jodie to reach a bigger crowd. Connextions platforms even began blowing up because of such a public figure, Ruby Franke. The Connextions videos of Kevin and Ruby giving advice and sharing personal experiences about marriage began blowing up against the 8 Passengers family.
Ruby eventually began partnering with Jodi to hold a service for moms on how to connect and understand their children. Ruby is a certified mental fitness trainer now, although many people question the information she is giving out to moms for their children. Ruby has taken Connextions to the extreme, and her whole family, including her kids, are not supporting her career with Connextions anymore. It is also rumored Kevin and her are separated now.
8 passengers are entirely canceled, but still popular on YouTube with attention-seeking channels continuing to post edited family videos.
Some say 8 passengers deserved to be canceled, and others say they were attacked by people who did not understand their family.