German twitch streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris made a tremendous appearance at gamescom 2022 with a security entourage of 35 bodyguards and around 500 fans in tow. A young woman is said to have been injured while the entourage was moving through gamescom, others say they were homophobically insulted or thrown to the ground. Criticism rained down on the Twitch streamer and gamescom: Some said MontanaBlack shouldn’t have gone to gamescom at all. Others are calling for him to be expelled. The streamer himself sees it relaxed. He interprets the appearance as a confirmation that he is insanely successful.
How was Monte’s performance at gamescom? Although MontanaBlack is no longer the most watched Twitch streamer in Germany, he apparently has the largest following.
When he came to gamescom in Cologne, he showed up there with a huge convoy of 35 security guards. A crowd of young fans trailed behind him, shouting his name. MontanaBlack estimates that about 500 people ran after him.
This mass of people, the mix of security guards and enthusiastic fans repelled some of the trade fair visitors.
To clarify this visually and aurally… pic.twitter.com/cHco9fP1yW
— Sharu (@DieSharuman) August 29, 2022
This is the criticism of him: As emerged from tweets, the entourage around MontanaBlack behaved ruthlessly (via twitter):
This crowd is said to have led to uninvolved trade fair visitors …
Some online have demanded a personal apology from MontanaBlack. As the streamer himself says, others even demanded his exclusion from future gamescom fairs.
Mass gathering of MontanaBlack fans leads to violence at gamescom – that’s what the organizers say
How did this amount of security forces come about? In a Twitch stream shortly after gamescom, MontanaBlack made it clear that none of this was planned – he was also surprised by the hype surrounding him (via twitch):
He originally planned to come to gamescom with 6 security guards, 3 for him and 3 for his companion Marc Gebauer. You thought that wouldn’t be enough, but you had no idea how many people would react to it – because MontanaBlack was last at gamescom in 2018.
When MontanaBlack and Gebauer then “stepped” onto gamescom, it quickly became clear that more security was needed. At the climax, 35 security forces were gathered around them: 10 bodyguards paid by Gebauer and MontanaBlack, and around them another 25 bodyguards provided by gamescom.
Is actually an exception in the German Twitch:
MontanaBlack’s career and life in 2 minutes: what makes him special?
“Like I’m El Presidente MontanaBlack”
How did MontanaBlack feel about the casserole?
Yes, of course it was a cool feeling when I went up the escalator, turned around and saw hundreds of people cheering me like I was El Presidente MontanaBlack – but other than that, I’ll tell you how it was the whole thing for me rather not nice and not enjoyable.
Because you, as an outsider, might think that it’s cool when people cheer you on all the time, people call your name – and there are always moments when people in the background shout “Monte, Monte” where you’re proud of it . But the bottom line is that the overall situation at gamescom was a pure stress factor for me.
This is the moment on the escalator that “El Presidente” says:
“Almost died? I can’t take it seriously”
What does he say to the criticism of his performance?
Between all the hymns of praise and ‘Oh, that was so cool’, some people also called for Uncle Monti to be banned from gamescom. Criticism, I want to say now, expressed to me how irresponsible it would be for me to go to gamescom given the number of spectators I have. But they also criticized gamescom. […]
I also take criticism that I can understand to heart. When a young lady then writes: “I almost died at gamescom yesterday” and then the text says “Your hair was torn out and blah blah,” then I can’t take it seriously at first. […] Because that’s not a joke.
According to MontanaBlack, there is also a lot of “hoax” under the criticism and suggestions as to what could be done better. MontanaBlack sees criticism as confirmation anyway.
Because if everyone would agree with him, then he would be doing something wrong, from his point of view:
When the oh so big – for people from that perspective – the oh so big MontanaBlack ripped gamescom apart and pulled crowds behind it like no one before, then of course that pleases those who celebrate me, the fans out there, they celebrate it off and celebrate because they see that Uncle Monte is still who he always was, one of the most successful people that has ever existed and probably will exist on the internet in the German area.
But there are also people who don’t like me at all and who would make a rope out of it for me. But that’s okay too.
However, MontanaBlack admits he’s sorry when people get pushed away because of him. He does not welcome the fact that people are chasing him en masse. He doesn’t want that.
But when he walks through the hall with 35 people, he doesn’t even notice what’s happening 50 meters behind him.
MontanaBlack rejects the accusation that his community is anti-gay. There were maybe one or two of the 500 people who followed him who would have railed against homosexuals. That’s why you can’t denigrate the whole community.
What does gamescom actually say? We requested a statement at gamescom on August 30th:
It is particularly important to us that everyone feels safe and comfortable at gamescom. Therefore, we take the incidents surrounding MontanaBlack’s gamescom visit and all other incidents reported to us very seriously and will analyze them closely. Inconsiderate behaviour, intolerance and violence have no place at gamescom.
The organizers of gamescom in a statement to MeinMMO
That doesn’t sound like an exclusion from MontanaBlack. But maybe next time you’ll be better prepared for such a mass accusation and maybe you can avoid walking through the crowd, which so many then find disturbing. Maybe you can lead “Onkel Monti” or “El Presidente” through a back door onto a stage.
As early as 2020, satirist Jan Böhmermann accused MontanaBlack of being susceptible to right-wing slogans. MontanaBlack also rejected this at the time:
Böhmermann pushes the German Twitch star into the right corner – he defends himself