The impression would arise: Those who are big enough on Twitch can get away with anything.
Some weeks ago, MontanaBlack spoke about Twitch bans. Back then, he described it as something that didn’t concern him, but severely impacted his colleague Flying Uwe.
MontanaBlack described how much he suffers from the Twitch ban and how difficult it is for a streamer to be banned from the streaming platform:
MontanaBlack explains how hard it is for a colleague to face a permanent Twitch ban
The streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris (32) is the largest German streamer on the platform Twitch. At the moment, he is on vacation in Malta but is also streaming from there. His behavior in front of the camera, especially towards women, is being sharply criticized. MontanaBlack admits he made mistakes. If Twitch were to punish him for this, he would be okay with it.
Update: 25.9.: MontanaBlack was indeed banned from Twitch. You can find the details and initial reactions in our new article about the Twitch ban on MontanaBlack.
This is the criticism of MontanaBlack: The streamer is currently on vacation in Malta. In “IRL” streams, he broadcasts his adventures live to his community. Instead of sitting at the PC playing Call of Duty or Fortnite, he is out and about with his phone on the streets and in vacation mode.
The streams during vacation are noticeably shorter: He streams for about 20 to 80 minutes on Twitch. Yet the streams are successful: On Sunday, an average of 50,000 people watched him (via sullygnome).
However, his behavior in these streams is drawing sharp criticism on Twitter. The German streamer “Hand of Blood” asks: “What is going on? Is nobody noticing this? Why is this allowed to be on Twitch?”
In the accompanying video, you can see how MontanaBlack follows women, comments on their appearance, laughs, and makes strange noises.
In another clip that generated a lot of attention on Twitter, MontanaBlack is seen on a hotel balcony observing a woman with the camera and says: “Oh, she’s hot, dude.”
He then seemingly calls out to her: “Come down, Ficki-Ficki” while taking photos.
Critics demand Twitch ban – Fans defend MontanaBlack
Here are the reactions: The behavior is being sharply criticized on Twitter and causes outrage:
- MontanaBlack is a role model for the youth with a massive influence. It is unacceptable for him to behave this way.
- Harassing women is not funny. It’s an invasion of privacy, what MontanaBlack is doing.
- People wonder why Twitter isn’t taking action and banning MontanaBlack.
Why does he still have a twitch partner contract? This is sexual harassment of the highest degree and it’s simply tolerated because “monte is fun”?
— Dana Xue (@DanaXue) September 22, 2020
Srsly… I could vomit.
But fans of MontanaBlack are defending the streamer and attacking the critics:
- Hand of Blood probably just wants more viewers for himself. He simply doesn’t want MontanaBlack to succeed.
- Hand of Blood wants MontanaBlack to be banned on Twitch so he can get more views and clicks.
Controversial streamer admits mistakes
This is how MontanaBlack responds:
MontanaBlack likely realized that he would get in trouble for the clip the moment he observed the woman live on stream and shouted at her.
He emphasizes in the clip that the woman wouldn’t understand him anyway and that it was just a joke.
He then says: “Not that all the feminists go crazy again.”
The extent of the backlash surprised MontanaBlack, though.
MontanaBlack is actually used to such controversies. His reaction to the backlash is noticeably different this time. Normally, he would counterattack, saying it’s not that serious, it’s been taken out of context, that people simply don’t understand his humor, and that they only get upset with him to get a piece of his “fame”:
- He went after Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz, who wanted to push him into a right-wing corner
- The influencer David Hain was also attacked, as he had posted a clip of MontanaBlack online comparing women to dogs
This time, however, MontanaBlack is actually conceding. On Twitter, he admits that there were “2-3 Neanderthal calls that were too much.” He states that no one was actually harassed by it. It arose out of the situation; it was “funny in the moment.”
He now wants to work on his behavior. It was “probably not the best way” to go about it. For people who don’t know his humor, it can be “a bit confusing.”
If he receives a punishment from Twitch for his behavior, he will accept it.
It looks like a Twitch ban is coming for MontanaBlack
What happens next? Some people on Twitter have directly messaged the German Twitch team to inquire about the status of a ban.
MontanaBlack also seems to be expecting a temporary suspension. He presumably realizes that he has crossed the line in some scenes. The last time MontanaBlack was temporarily suspended by Twitch was in 2019.
It is quite possible that MontanaBlack will have to take a forced break from streaming for a few days.
Such bans from Twitch sometimes come with a delay, but a suspension will likely occur. It is known that Twitch reacts to such public outrage. It is hard to imagine they would turn a blind eye here.
The impression would arise: Those who are big enough on Twitch can get away with anything.
Some weeks ago, MontanaBlack spoke about Twitch bans. Back then, he described it as something that didn’t concern him, but severely impacted his colleague Flying Uwe.
MontanaBlack described how much he suffers from the Twitch ban and how difficult it is for a streamer to be banned from the streaming platform:
MontanaBlack explains how hard it is for a colleague to face a permanent Twitch ban
