Fast food opening without scandal YouTuber: No steak sandwich for the wife beater

At the opening of the new fast food shop “Bang Bang” on Limmerstrasse in Hannover-Linden, there is not only a long queue waiting in front of the restaurant for your Philly cheesesteak. This is sandwich with fried beef, cheese and hot sauce. A few dozen protesters have gathered on the other side of the street, their posters read “Linden is Left” or “No place for those who protect perpetrators.” Their protest is directed against the rapper Mois, who was supposed to accompany the opening and against whom there are allegations of intimate partner violence.

The US fast food chain “Bang Bang” promoted its local branch in Hanover together with the controversial rapper Mois. In the promotional videos on Instagram, he promised to give away the first 100 sandwiches at the opening. He also announced that he would work with the store for a month and interview potential employees. The rapper described one of the operators of the fast food shop as a “good, long-time friend”.

Mois, whose real name is Zelemkhan Arsanov and whom ARD calls one of the biggest YouTubers in Germany in a Podcats series, is being criticized for excessive drug abuse, the alleged embezzlement of large sums of donations, anti-Semitic statements, misogynistic behavior and especially violence against his then wife Anys. Mois later publicly acknowledged the violent outbursts against her.

For several months now, the rapper has been regularly cooperating with various fast food restaurants and promoting store openings - relatively successfully, as the crowds of people in front of the stores in his videos indicate. The managing directors of “Bang Bang Hannover” on Limmerstrasse, the center of the Linden district known as the left-wing neighborhood, were also hoping for this success. Initially, the reactions to the advertising videos were positive: hundreds of Mois fans supported the cooperation and commented that they would definitely attend the opening.

At the beginning of September, a text that denounced Mois' bad behavior and also criticized Saman Hosseinzadeh, the owner of the shop, spread rapidly on Instagram, Facebook and Reddit. On the same day, a petition entitled “For our peaceful Linden” was published, which quickly received around 2,000 signatures.

The displeasure with Mois' planned visit then became visible to everyone: the adhesive film on the store's facade was partially torn off, the window front and the house opposite were covered with graffiti and slogans such as "No place for perpetrators", "Antifa Area" and "Fuck Mois" and the locks of the restaurant were taped shut. “On other occasions, entire shops in Linden have had their glass removed - so this was rather harmless,” says district mayor Rainer-Jörg Grube (Greens).

After the protest, the restaurant owners are now distancing themselves. The videos have now all been deleted. In a statement on Instagram it says: “Bang Bang stands against violence against women, against anti-Semitism and against all forms of discrimination and hatred.” The team should have been better informed about the allegations against Mois. The collaboration with the rapper has ended and the restaurant wants to donate part of the proceeds.

“This backtracking with the apology is ridiculous and I don’t think the residents will accept it,” comments district mayor Grube. A neighborhood resident who helped develop the petition against the store is more optimistic. She met personally with the two shop owners upon invitation. She considers the apology and argument to be authentic; the operators admitted that they had made a thoughtless decision to cooperate. It is also planned to initiate a longer processing process and also to get in touch with aid organizations against violence against women.

After the facade was cleaned for the opening, a lot of graffiti reappeared overnight. “We messed up, but what’s happening to us now isn’t right either,” comments a Bang Bang employee. "We made a mistake. We're standing up for it and working on it."