In GTA 5 there is a conflict between two German Twitch streamers on a roleplay server. The streamer Justus Henker was banned from the private GTA-5 server LuckyV and now wants to sue the operator. Fans are supporting him with large donation sums. We conducted an interview with the streamer on MeinMMO and asked him how the lawsuit came about.
What is the lawsuit about?
- The streamer Justus Henker (4,641 followers on Twitch) played on the German roleplay server for GTA 5, LuckyV, stood in front of a poster of a lightly dressed woman in his apartment and said: ‘Take it in your hand, Ariane’. The server’s support subsequently banned the streamer for a few days, seeing it as a ‘sexual act’, apparently implying masturbation.
- From this situation, a conflict escalated: the server operator, Dennis ‘Heideltraut’ Werth (174,491 followers on Twitch), addressed this incident in a stream. Justus Henker responded to this stream with a video. Werth then had this video taken down with a copyright strike.
- Justus Henker saw this as an injustice that he was not willing to accept. He announced plans to sue Dennis Werth in the USA and launched a donation campaign. He has already raised 5,000 € for the lawsuit.
We described the incident in detail about two weeks ago in an article on MeinMMO:
We interviewed Justus Henker.
MeinMMO: Have you ever filed a lawsuit against someone privately, or where does your enthusiasm for the justice system come from that you play a prosecutor in your free time?
Justus Henker: I have never felt the need to sue someone privately. I don’t just play a prosecutor. The character Justus Henker has been a revolutionary, resistance fighter, lawyer, journalist, theater director, actor, and currently is a judge on the project Skyline-V.de.
I find it appealing in a game that is full of violence to play a character who represents a counterpoint of the supposed reason but is also full of flaws. I enjoy picking up where others stop, when the characters lie on the ground.
My character strives in vain to reach the others and achieve a confrontation with what has happened, even though those affected have no idea about it. Unfortunately, my character is fighting against windmills, like Don Quixote.
The accusation of a sexual act before the poster of the woman seems to anger Justus Henker:
Why are people donating €500 for such a lawsuit?
I find the sums involved astonishing. According to the website where your donation call is running, there are at least 10 individual donations of over €100 each for the lawsuit – some donations are even significantly higher (via steamlabs). How do you explain that people are donating €250, €300, or even €500 to help you proceed with your lawsuit?
I must first thank my regular viewers for being so great in participating. More than €5,000 was donated in the first five days. This is also because Heideltraut makes it very easy for me. Among the donors are also many former victims of him, whom he has insulted in front of up to 3,000 viewers, equating role and player, as in my case.
Heideltraut has many fans, but his ban lists likely contain more names. He has created his own bubble, from which one can be banned for even the slightest hint of criticism.
How did the lawsuit come about exactly?
First of all: There is currently no lawsuit yet. Our US lawyers are working to get this started. The story of how it came to this is quickly told. At the beginning, there was a time ban from his project. Although I criticized this in my stream, I ultimately accepted it, even though it was arbitrary.
Heideltraut then criticized me in a livestream the following day and portrayed me in an unacceptable light, making it clear that he could not have seen my criticism himself but was only reporting hearsay.
I then took this as an opportunity to make a direct reaction stream because I could not let the many false claims stand.
And then he went on a rampage in the livestream and did what he always does when faced with criticism. I was subjected to legal measures such as the Network Enforcement Act (Germany), a DMCA takedown notice (US law), and as a crowning glory, I received a permanent ban from his server project. All of this happened during his live broadcast. The content was immediately blocked by Twitch. He did what he unfortunately often does when criticized: he reacted with censorship. At the same time, two legal proceedings were opened against me directly. While the matter regarding the Network Enforcement Act was quickly settled, a malicious DMCA strike is still at play that I have to fight against to protect myself from his claims for damages.
It is also important to me that Twitch lifted the blockade of our content solely because of my counterstatement. It took a month until the video was actually released again.
When I followed this, I saw that the server operator Dennis Werth had actually already ended the matter and wanted to unban you. Then the conflict boiled over again – how did that happen?
There were talks. However, no agreement was reached. I also feel deceived. Because everything that came from the other side only aimed to obscure their actions and defame me as the attacker, while I am merely defending myself against his legal actions.
The climax of this sad show was his public advice to just let it be. Every streamer has three copyright strikes available before being banned on Twitch, I should just accept this. Imagine being falsely accused and someone recommends that you simply swallow the punishment, which amounts to an admission of guilt. I find that presumptuous. Especially since I would thereby provide him with the basis to enforce claims for damages against me.
Twitch streamer says he owes it to the donors to carry through with the lawsuit
How much money have you raised so far, and do you really want to proceed with the lawsuit in the USA?
We reached our first milestone after just five days, and over €5,000 have been donated. I had to read some of the funniest things about it. This whole thing is allegedly just an “exit scam”.
We owe it to the donors to push things forward as planned, to ultimately hold written confirmation in our hands: that I was unlawfully censored by the streamer Heideltraut under the misuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Mr. Henker, thank you for the conversation.
We at MeinMMO regularly deal with streamers from Germany:
The currently 5 biggest streamers in Germany: Who they are and what they do
