Ludwig‘s family has grown considerably. The content creator announced the adoption of a new kitten in a May 16 stream. He asked his chat to help him name the adorable little fur ball as part of the session. Ludwig decided to play a game of Marbles to determine the winner, assigning the more reasonable prospects to their own virtual balls. Despite being a latecomer to the chat, the name “Cracker” made the cut and was added to the lineup. Ludwig let the marbles roll down the course after gathering and assigning all of the better options, the fate of his cat now out of his hands.
Ludwig supported “Ludwig III,” which appeared to be in the lead near the end of the game. “Cracker” snuck across the finish line just ahead of “Ludwig III” in the final moments, securing the victory and the cat’s name.
Ludwig appeared to instantly regret gifting his community the privilege of naming the kitten, based on the pained expression on his face. “That’s so bad,” he said again, insisting that “Cracker” wasn’t an option. Beyond the obvious connotations, Ludwig may have been thinking about the problems that some of his fellow streamers have recently encountered with the term.
Hasan Piker was temporarily banned from Twitch in December. Piker believed he was punished for saying “cracker” on stream, a derogatory term directed at white people, though the platform did not provide an explanation. At the time, at least two other streamers may have been banned for using the word. Some people took issue with Twitch because of this, as the platform has a history of dealing with slurs. Ludwig moved from Twitch to YouTube and hasn’t had any trouble getting banned on the latter.
On May 16, Ludwig ran more marble matches in search of a different name for his pet in an attempt to get out of the potentially problematic situation. Members of the chat, however, felt duped, prompting the streamer to make one final ruse. He drew the names “Coots,” “Cracker,” and “Marbles” on the screen and let the kitten choose between those three names. Ludwig burst out laughing as the cat immediately chose “Cracker.” Ludwig joked, “This cat is a problem.” “For me. For society.” While he doesn’t appear to have had any issues with YouTube, keeping the name “Cracker” could cause problems in the future.
