Outraged, the influencers ensured that one of the hosts of the Lucid podcastinvited as part of the release of the documentary Alphasor disinvited from the Sunday show.
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Everyone is talking about it received a backlash on social media following the announcement of the guests for this week's show – among several big names, the episode would host journalist Simon Coutu and influencers Julien Bournival and Joël McGuirk for the documentary Alphas.
A documentary that is not welcomed with open arms
It is Simon Coutu who hosts this report focusing on the movement of “alpha males”, that is, young men who put forward a lifestyle where they assert their masculinity based on traditional values within which women must be subject to them. This phenomenon, which has increased thanks to social networks since the COVID-19 pandemic, worries (rightly) more than one, and this is undoubtedly what motivated the co-directors to immerse yourself in this controversial new reality.
The trailer had already caused controversy, and several content creators expressed disappointment with this documentary, regardless of its intention. According to them, by diving into the heart of the masculinist phenomenon and giving voice to some of its most belligerent Quebec actors, Télé-Québec contributes to offering an additional platform to men who advocate a masculinity perceived as toxic.
Joanie Grenier you podcast Oral Sexaccompanied by several others, had also taken the time to express her dismay, and had received a wave of hatred from masculinist Internet users in response to her comment.
Screenshot / Instagram Télé-Québec
Screenshot / Instagram Télé-Québec
Screenshot / Instagram Télé-Québec
Screenshot / Instagram Télé-Québec
Disappointed content creators, and who are not afraid to come together to say it
It was therefore no surprise when Quebec influencers united to demand the withdrawal of Julien Bournival and Joël McGuirk from the show Everyone is talking about it future. Anne-Marie Ménard, professional in sexology and co-host of the podcast Between Her & Himlaunched a petition so that Guy A.Lepage and his team change the guests and collected more than 3,500 signatures in two hours.
Brendan Mikan also addressed the subject in storyspecifying that preventing the masculinist movement would have been acceptable, but that the choice of guests would necessarily lead to promoting it.
Instagram/Brendan Mikan
Vanessa Duchel, Emy Lalune, Camille Dufresne and many others also shared that they had signed the petition and redirected their subscribers to the publications of Juliette Bélanger-Charpentier and du Pharmachien gave a poignant review of the situation:
Noémie Lacerte, she opened up in her storiesexpressing his sadness at the decision of Everyone is talking about it and the political climate which currently weighs on women:
“No, but what a week, the same, to be a man. […] Imagine waking up this week and telling yourself that, like […] “ayoye, even if I am a dangerous character, with extremely dangerous comments for the freedom of women, and the place of women in society, I still have the chance to go and sit at Everyone is talking about itan extremely watched show, to be able to share my opinion.
Instagram/Noémie Lacerte
Finally, Jessica Roux, who initially hesitated to speak out, then felt called to do so when she saw the women she followed speaking out too. She stressed the importance of showing support in large numbers, both to feel less alone in all this, and to denounce discriminatory speech.
The talk show therefore announced the replacement of Joël McGuirk, co-host of the Lucid podcastby Francis Dupis-Déri, researcher and professor, question of “rebalancing the plateau”. Although the public would have liked Julien Bournival not to be present either, this change still constituted a victory, which Anne-Marie Ménard celebrated, proud of having succeeded in giving a voice to women and feminists.
The poisonous return of masculinist influencers
Joël McGuirk published a series of storiesfrustrated, maintaining that the team of TLMEP is “ridiculous”. He also sent threats to Anne-Marie, warning her in an outrageous monologue that “karma is a bitch”, and using the election of Trump to maintain that masculinist ideologies will ultimately triumph over what the content creator supports.
Instagram/Jessica Roux
The latter is not the only one to have been attacked after asserting her position through all of this. While Joanie Grenier had already had to deal with the trolls in the Télé-Québec publication mentioned above, now JNT Productions is attacking her in the excerpt from the talk show For realwhich will be released tomorrow.
The artist and influencer, reacting to the documentary Alphasmentions that the one we know as Dre Point G reacted negatively to the trailer, but that her comments would not be valid. Stating: “I am not against Joanie, I am not against what she promotes”, he still says that she is opposed to Alphas to continue promoting “sex and masturbation” in order to continue making money.
Despite these rather discouraging fallouts, the fact remains that the local stars who took the time to talk about it on their platforms still saw a response to their requests and found a reassuring group spirit among their community and their influencer friends who were also revolted by all this. As Jessica Roux says in her publication, “Damn it feels good to express yourself!”
