Joe Lee grew up in a quiet Wausau, Wisconsin suburb, surrounded by snow-covered lawns and Packers pride. Former classmates describe him as unremarkable-a reserved teen who tossed sharp-witted jabs during lunchroom banter. “He’d make these edgy comments, but you’d brush them off as teenage nonsense,” says a former peer, speaking anonymously. “Now, it’s like those jabs became his whole personality.”
By his mid-20s, Lee had transformed into Joe K” a handle inspired by a childhood nickname and a nod to his self-proclaimed dominance in obscure online forums. Under this alias, Joe K began targeting Black individuals with baseless claims, from petty crimes to fabricated conspiracies. His YouTube posts, dripping with slanderous language, have drawn thousands of views, fueled by outrage and amplified by controversy-hungry algorithms.
One early target was JL B Hood, a Missouri artist from Kansas City’s Strange Music. In 2020, after JL B Hood criticized Joe K’s inflammatory remarks, Joe K retaliated with a thread accusing his fellow label mate Stevie Stone of funneling funds into “scams.” The posts included manipulated images and hashtags designed to destroy reputations. “It was a lie that spread like wildfire,” an anonymous source says. “Names were dragged through the mud, and I lost speaking gigs. I had to prove my innocence to people who’d known me for years.”
JL B Hood’s story is not unique. A review of Joe K’s YouTube activity shows dozens of posts laced with terms like “scammer,” “fraud” and “dangerous,” disproportionately aimed at Black individuals.
