Rezo

Rezo is a German YouTuber, vlogger and influencer who in 2019 ignited a fiery political debate with his video "Die Zerstörung der CDU".[1] In it, he heavily criticized the then ruling grand coalition in Germany, especially the coalition leading party CDU. The video is thought to have significantly influenced the results of the 2019 European Parliament election in Germany.

Rezo
Rezo in 2018
Personal information
Born
Wuppertal, Germany
NationalityGerman
YouTube information
Also known asRezo
Channels
Years active2015–present
GenreMusic, comedy, vlog
SubscribersOver 1,700,000 (main channel)
Over 1,200,000 (second channel)
Total viewsOver 170,000,000 (main channel)
Over 160,000,000 (second channel)
NetworkTube One, Ströer Digital
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers

He publishes on his two YouTube channels and is managed by ALL IN - Artist Management. He previously belonged to the Influencer network Tube One, which is marketed by Ströer Digital.[2][3]

Life

Rezo grew up in a pastor's family.[4] He names Aachen as his place of residence. According to his own information, he studied computer science at the Technical University of Dortmund and graduated in 2016 with a Master of Science.[5] From the age of 14 until one and a half years before his Master's degree, he played in various bands. He plays the guitar. A distinguishing feature is his blue-colored hair.

Internet presence

On 18 May 2019, a week before the 2019 European Parliament election, Rezo published under his second YouTube channel Rezo ja lol ey[6][7] a video named "Die Zerstörung der CDU", which means literally "The destruction of the CDU", in which he said that essential political positions, especially of the parties CDU/CSU and SPD, are destroying "our lives and our future". The 55-minute video, with a list of 247 references and citations of scientific literature, accused the governing conservative alliance for a range of unsustainable policies such as inactivity in politics of global warming, making politics for the rich, war and internet censorship. He explicitly warned against voting for the right-wing populist AfD, as they would "only make the world worse". Towards the end, he stated: "You always say that young people should be political, in which case you have to get to grips with it when they think your politics are shit". His video went viral, received more than 13 million views within the first eleven days and triggered a broad social debate.[8][9][10][11] On 24 May 2019, two days ahead of the vote, Rezo was joined in a three-minute followup video entitled A Statement of 90+ Youtubers by more than 90 known vloggers in which the statements of the first video were supported. They asked voters not to back Angela Merkel's bloc or the SPD, because of their politics of global warming.[12][13]

After the election the leader of the CDU Merkel's successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced she wanted to "regulate" political opinion in election campaigns. She was met with a wide political backlash. Bundestag Vice President Claudia Roth stated: "For years, the Union (CDU/CSU) has said that populist-right-wing discourse shifting, sometimes even national-right-wing agitation should not be approached too hard." As soon as a vlogger expressed himself critically, "[Kramp-Karrenbauer] fabulates about the restriction of freedom of expression in the election campaign, one can only hope that it is rooted in helplessness and not in political conviction."[14] Despite the backlash, Kramp-Karrenbauer put the item "asymmetrical campaigning" on the agenda for a meeting of her party leadership on 2 July 2019.[15][16]

After the Halle synagogue shooting in 2019, Rezo took to Twitter to criticise German interior minister Horst Seehofer for suggesting increased surveillance of the country's gaming community. Rezo accused Seehofer and the CSU of incompetent leadership.[17]

In 2019, Rezo won a Goldene Kamera Digital Award as a special jury prize.[18]

References
  1. Amelie Duckwitz (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung): Influencer als digitale Meinungsführer:
  2. YouTube-Video: CDU accuses "Rezo" of "spreading pseudofacts", Deutschlandfunk Nova, 22 May 2019.
  3. Social Influencer Advertising: Ströer Digital und TUBE ONE (PDF).
  4. How well do rezo and Julien Bam know each other?' In: YouTube from 16 November 2018, 8:59 min.
  5. Picture with Rezo and an anonymous certificate as Master of Science. In: Imgur.
  6. Jonas Schaible: on his YouTube second account.html "Destruction" on YouTube - How much can this video harm the CDU?], T-online.de dated May 22, 2019.
  7. Wie im alten Ägypten - AKK reagiert auf Anti-CDU-Video von Rezo, n-tv vom 23. Mai 2019.
  8. German YouTuber Rezo’s video attacking Merkel party goes viral, The Guardian, 22. Mai 2019, abgerufen am 26. Mai 2019.
  9. Enrique Müller: 'Un ‚youtuber‘ pone en jaque al partido de Merkel con un vídeo viral, El País, 23 may 2019.
  10. Un Youtubeur fait trembler la CDU d’Angela Merkel, Le Figaro, 24 may 2019
  11. Youth’s Video Takes Aim at Merkel’s Party in Run-Up to European Elections, The New York Times, 25 may 2019.
  12. Shortly before the European elections: Rezo publishes new video - Over 90 Youtuber stand behind him, Westdeutsche Zeitung of 24 May 2019.
  13. Criticism of GroKo and AfD - YouTube stars support Rezo with more video, Der Spiegel, 24 May 2019.
  14. "Ein beispielloser Angriff auf die Meinungsfreiheit", Die Zeit, 28 May 2019.
  15. Digitale Inkompetenz: AKK lädt CDU mit Fax zur Konferenz ein – und das Internet lacht sich schlapp (in German). Stern.de. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  16. German CDU chief under fire for comments about campaigning on YouTube, Politico, 28 May 2019.
  17. Schuetze, Christopher F. (18 October 2019). "The German YouTuber Emerging as the Voice of a Generation". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  18. , Goldene Kamera, 26 September 2019.
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