The satirist Jan Böhmermann had made negative comments about the Twitch streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris in 2020. Since the summer of 2022, however, he has been dealing with the streamer noticeably often and slipping into his role.
What was the conflict in 2020? In his podcast “Fest&Flauschig”, satirist Jan Böhmermann spoke about Twitch and the danger of viewers slipping into a right-wing corner:
“There’s YouTubers, Let’s Players, here MontanaBlack fans and even further right hardcore Neo-Nazis trying to tap into the Montana Black community who’s got a taste.”
His partner Olli Schulz also agreed with the criticism:
Nowadays you do an internet channel, you tattoo your face, you say you have tight foreskin and everything else and people love you for it and say: “Hey, that’s a guy like me, he’s just as shit” and then if you write another book about it: “My hard path of suffering”, then they all buy it […] And then I have to say: What kind of stupid ass am I to have gone down such a stupid path?
MontanaBlack etches against Böhmermann: failed career
How did that go? MontanaBlack outraged at being pushed into a right-hand corner in May 2020. He was particularly annoyed that Böhmermann had “defamed” his entire community.
MontanaBlack assumed Böhmermann was probably jealous because his career had failed.
Böhmermann then specified his criticism that he did not think that MontanaBlack was right-wing, but that he had a great responsibility and had to be aware of it. Precisely because Twitch is so unregulated, the “stars” of the platform have to position themselves clearly and take responsibility.
Some have their role on the screen, but others don’t give a shit about this responsibility. That is a fundamental problem.
MontanaBlack’s career and life in 2 minutes: what makes him special?
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Since the summer of 2022, MontanaBlack has been the target of parodies
How is it now? In the summer of 2022, Böhmermann rediscovered MontanaBlack for himself and developed a parody of him, which he has already slipped into several times.
After an episode of “ZDF Magazin Royale”, in which he reacted to himself live as a MontanaBlack blend, 4 more “Reaction Streams” by Böhmermann in the role of Twitch streamer, who is strong, have now appeared in the ZDF Mediathek and on YouTube inherent in MontanaBlack: he babbles, is unprepared, munches on chips, burps and comments on whatever pops into his head.
In the parodies he has commented so far:
What is it with the mega show? In Friday’s “ZDF Magazin Royale” program, Böhmermann tried a new format, broadcast live, put through viewer calls and responded to callers’ opinions. He apparently took cues from viewer-call radio formats he used to do — but publicly made it out to be that he staged the show in a nod to Twitch and MontanaBlack.
At the end of the show, seemingly disappointed, he said:
It is 11:31 p.m., unfortunately the show is over much faster than expected. I thought we were doing the MontanaBlack megastream here tonight, I fueled up extra algae-algae-algae like Knossi, I’m really psyched up and pumped up because I thought you, ladies and gentlemen, can start our show again bring the right way. You can shove us back on track. You can provide us with facts and topics. That obviously didn’t work.
Böhmermann develops a taste for reacting and improvising
This is behind it: You can see how Böhmermann’s relationship with Twitch and MontanaBlack has changed in 3 years:
The former gaming journalist and later influencer Fabian Siegismund discovered this basic principle many years ago. Siegismund had been creating elaborate Battlefield tutorial videos for GameStar for years, but then at some point started uploading his unedited gameplay, which he had to record for the tutorials anyway.
Ultimately, he noticed: live streaming is much less effort, you finish early and get almost as much out of it as with the elaborate tutorial videos.
At Böhmermann, too, the large, journalistically prepared 30-minute shows are significantly more successful, but the 9-minute reaction streams, which apparently involve far less work, also bring relevance and viewers.
In any case, Böhmermann does not seem to reach the streamer with his criticism that MontanaBlack does not live up to its responsibility, not even when it comes to “loot boxes” at FIFA:
MontanaBlack on the criticism of Twitch streamers by ZDF Magazin Royale: “Everyone is responsible for themselves”