To me it’s similar to what you wrote about the jokes you removed: the emojis are distracting and not actually fun. This use of emojis comes across as a tired meme. It’s better if the project makes people smile due to its intrinsic qualities like working well and doing what they want.

>I kept them because they make me smile.

But isn't the whole point to make your users smile? No one but you cares if YOU smile.