The Twitch streamer Asmongold has now commented on political matters in Germany, depicting a picture of Germany that does not reflect the truth. He suggests: In Germany, it is punishable to call overweight people “fat.” 5 years in prison are threatened. He is happy to live in the USA, where there is freedom of speech.
What is Asmongold talking about? In a YouTube clip “Fat Jokes are illegal now,” originating from his Twitch live stream, gaming streamer Asmongold tells his viewers:
The German police are investigating a case: Someone has called the Green politician Ricarda Lang “fat” online. The Federal Criminal Police Office wanted to find out the person’s data in order to bring them to justice and inquired with a US company for the personal data.
He then shows a statement from the US social network “Gab,” which claims that the German government is investigating a user of the platform because they called a German politician “fat.” Gab is supposed to release the user’s data – the user faces 5 years in prison.
In the video, they make extensive jokes about Ricarda Lang. And ask why it would be problematic to call a politician overweight when people openly joke about Donald Trump during carnival parades.
Asmongold thanks God that he lives in a country with freedom of speech and not in Germany
This is what Asmongold says: The streamer says:
If all they did was call her fat, then they should start an investigation in Germany as to why she is fat, what she eats, why this is happening. […] I think Americans don’t realize what a huge privilege it is to have the right to free speech in our country. I think so many of us take that for granted.
I say: Thank God I don’t have to live under the thumb of some guy who puts me in prison for something he finds offensive. The idea that ideas are dangerous is very frightening to me.
BKA investigates for “defamatory and sexualized depiction”; not because someone called Ricarda Lang fat
What is the error? Asmongold is falling for a false representation of events that is shared by the social network itself and picked up by some media.
If you read the request from the BKA to the platform Gab, you quickly realize: It is not about Ricarda Lang being called “fat,” but the user has sexualized and dehumanized her in a fake image – in a defamatory manner.
However, Asmongold completely disregards the “sexualization” and “dehumanizing depiction” in his account and turns it into: “Someone called her fat – and now the whole German state apparatus is preoccupied with clarification and wasting its resources on such nonsense.”
The head of the social network Gab shows the letter from the BKA:
The post in question dates back to 12.02.2022 and shows a naked, overweight woman with the caption “Ricarda Lang is now personally processing asylum applications as well.”
So the prosecution is not about Ricarda Lang being depicted as overweight, but mainly about the sexualization and defamation.
Simplifying such an image to “Someone called Ricarda Lang fat and should go to prison for 5 years” is simply not what is happening.
However, the video remains unchallenged on the internet, provokes intense comments, and people seem to seriously believe that freedom of speech does not exist in Germany. The video has received 410,000 views in just 9 hours.
Asmongold has recently been at the center of discussions about gaming. He has a large reach on YouTube, and the individuals he critically addresses repeatedly come under the focus of his audience: Conflict over Black Myth: Wukong escalates – Asmongold puts an IGN freelancer in the spotlight
