What to Know
There are different kinds of true crime podcast hosts out there. Some try to find humor in otherwise extremely dark stories, while others explain the cases in a much more succinct way while paying homage to the victims and survivors. For YouTuber Eleanor Neale, it has always been about respecting those involved in the cases she talks about with her listeners.
However, after she announced a U.K. tour and used words like “fun moments” to describe her tour of discussing real life grizzly crimes on-stage, people called her out for what they see as stark insensitivity. Some even urged Eleanor to cancel her tour altogether. True crime podcasts hosts often tour either domestically or internationally. But, because Eleanor has always been about being respectful of the victims she talks about, her fans and followers were disappointed with her promotion of the event.
Eleanor Neale’s critics called out her inaccuracies before.
It is the job of any true crime host to deliver stories with facts and empathy, regardless of any themes of humor that the host is known for. In Eleanor’s case, her viewers began to flock to her because of the respect she gives to the victims and survivors in the cases she discusses on her podcast, Outlore with Eleanor Neale. She has been called out for not being totally accurate before, though, and now that she gave her haters and even her fans another reason to target her, they haven’t stopped.
After she promoted her tour with all of the pomp and frill of an exciting girls’ night out, her followers on Instagram called her out in the comments of one of her promotional posts to urge her to take it down several notches.
“I’ve been listening to and following you for years,” one fan commented on Instagram. “I don’t believe I will be continuing after this. I don’t mean this as a hateful comment but hopefully as a wake up call. You already profit off of other people’s awful stories which is fine if it continued to be educational and respectful. But this completely draws a line and feels extremely out of touch to even consider, let alone sell out.”
Another apparent fan-turned-critic added, “I really do miss how much care and respect used to be put into discussing these cases. Now REAL LIFE cases of people’s trauma is just being treated as gossip and girl talk.”
The issue for many is how she chose to market her live true crime story telling event.
That, paired with Eleanor seemingly unwilling to release any kind of apology for being insensitive toward others has left some of her longtime fans ready to drop her and forget about her podcast and her content for good.
Other users pointed out that Eleanor’s attitude that includes having drinks and gabbing about “murder suspects” isn’t exactly in line with discussing true crime cases and working to understand them a bit further. Again, yes, there are true crime podcasts that have humor in them. However, for Eleanor’s fans, that’s not something they saw with her content before she promoted her live tour.
As someone else put it in the comments on Eleanor’s Instagram, “An influencer influences, a true crime YouTuber brings light to the darkness of the world with grace. You’ve completely lost the plot and I’m blocking you.”
