The German Twitch streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris has been in a NFT frenzy for a few days now. He has given away several NFTs on Twitter and shared screenshots of the prizes. He was paid for this. One of the NFTs features an ape with a swastika armband. After criticism arose, the NFT creators deleted the problematic ape. The streamer does not quite understand the uproar around this action.
This is what MontanaBlack did:
- It has been known for a while that the German Twitch streamer MontanaBlack invests a good portion of his wealth in cryptocurrencies. For a few days now, he has been interested in NFTs: These are digital collectibles that work with the same technology as cryptocurrencies. Essentially, they are investment objects that can increase in value and in some cases achieve completely absurd valuations.
- Recently, MontanaBlack has repeatedly given away NFTs via Twitter. He adds the “value” of the NFTs to the prizes and gives them to people who follow his channel on Twitter and that of his partner, apparently increasing his prominence on social media and his reach.
- However, during one of the giveaways, he gave away an NFT ape with a swastika.
This was the ape in question: The ape was an NFT from the series “Kongdo Club”. The NFTs feature various types of apes with crossed arms. Depending on the ape, the images vary in details. One of the four apes MontanaBlack gave away had purple fur and wore a swastika cuff on its arm.
Apparently, neither MontanaBlack nor the ape NFT creators considered that this could be problematic.
Such “apes” are a popular target for NFTs – we have previously reported on NFT apes on MeinMMO.
Accusation: MontanaBlack promotes things for money without looking
This is the criticism: A German Twitter user shared the image of the ape and said: “Monte seems not to even look at what he gets paid for”.
The tweet has since been deleted by Twitter itself due to the legal situation in Germany, but had already received 200 comments.
There is also a discussion about the incident in the subreddit Livestreamfails, which deals with Twitch matters. Gamers are generally skeptical of NFTs. It is stated there:
- “Nothing good comes from NFTs” (via livestreamfails).
- “Poor people get richer by scamming stupid rich people”
- “The sad thing is, the one with the swastika will probably be one of the most valuable because of all the drama”
NFT creators apologize, delete everything
This is how the NFT creators react: The creators of the NFT say:
- They had no intention of publishing anything that equates to hate speech
- They removed the artwork and apologize for the “confusion”
- They want as a team for everyone to feel comfortable, such representations would be removed permanently
- MontanaBlack had nothing to do with the creation of the figure; he was merely paid to promote the project
MontanaBlack wouldn’t have deleted the Nazi ape
This is how MontanaBlack reacts: The streamer has little understanding of the uproar. He says (via twitter):
Update 20.11., 10:33: MontanaBlack has since apologized for his statements:
German Twitch streamer apologizes for “crazy statements” about the swastika
This is how MontanaBlack reacts: The streamer has little understanding of the uproar. He says (via twitter):
Update 20.11., 10:33: MontanaBlack has since apologized for his statements:
German Twitch streamer apologizes for “crazy statements” about the swastika
