"Could you do it in Catalan?": Montserrat Pujol, the TikToker pest who has gone viral

BarcelonaCatalan content creators have often explained that every time they upload a video they receive insulting comments, photos, or who asks them to switch to SpanishNow, a counter-narrative has emerged. It involves a character named Montserrat Pujol who, in recent weeks, has been making her presence felt on the accounts of many Spanish-speaking influencers. She charmingly and enthusiastically asks them to make videos in Catalan. "Could you do it in Catalan? Thank you." Or: "If you spoke Catalan, you would win many hearts here." And also: "It would be even more charming in Catalan."

Montserrat Pujol has not uploaded any videos to her account, so it is unknown whether she is a real person, a fictional character, or simply a... botBut it's clear that it has revolutionized social media and even given an influencer from Extremadura something to talk about in Catalan. Their objectives have been very different, but most are Catalan creators who make content in Spanish.

They have dedicated videos to it from a influencer From influencers like @bonbonreich (5 million followers) to a football player and sports content creator like Carlos Segarra (4.8 million followers). The former told him that with her "nagging about everyone's videos," she'd actually get more content in Catalan, because she hadn't planned on making any videos in that language before seeing her persistence. Segarra made a couple of videos about the situation. First, surprised: "I don't know if this happens to everyone, but this woman comments on all my videos," he says in Spanish. After 780,000 views, he decided to make his first video in Catalan.

Montserrat Pujol has caused a stir in Catalan regarding the accounts ofArnau Mestre (954,000 followers), who explained that he and his partner make the videos in Spanish "so that everyone can understand them." He used the same usual argument. @diegxnister (1.8 million followers), who, although she speaks Valencian and Ibizan, creates content in Spanish "to reach more people." Mami.de_tres (1.3 million followers) also dedicates a video to her, partly in Catalan, in which she asks if her work is part of any campaign by the Generalitat (Catalan government), to which she replies no. She says the same thing to her. Gianluca Gentile (2.5 million followers), who also suspects that it is some kind of orchestrated campaign.

The most extreme case is that of the comedian Raúl Otero from Extremadura, who dedicates an entire video to her, speaking in Catalan. "Is she a lady or a character?" he asks. She celebrates the milestone but encourages him to continue. At her insistence, the young man dedicates a second video to her, where he asks her to stop. "Give me your arm, Montserrat. I'm from Extremadura, I can't make all the videos in Catalan; it would take me four hours to record them all!"

Whether real or just entertainment, Montserrat Pujol has shaken the world TikTokerwhere it already has its hashtag And it has shown that, effortlessly, Spanish-speaking influencers can switch to Catalan, which gives them an audience and positive interactions. Even figures like Núria Casas (1.8 million followers), who also publishes videos in Spanish although she acts on TV3 in Catalan, lamented that Montserrat Pujol hadn't noticed her.