There’s a line in showbiz that goes, “There’s no such factor as dangerous publicity.” Ian Proulx, CEO of 1047 Video games and creator of Splitgate 2 has lately realized the laborious method that’s not completely true.
Final week, in the course of the Summer time Sport Fest keynote livestream, Proulx got here out to advertise his recreation carrying a black hat that learn, “Make FPS Nice Once more” — an apparent reference to Donald Trump’s Make American Nice Once more slogan. The Splitgate 2 neighborhood, journalists, and common avid gamers seized on the hat (and never, you understand, the sport) instantly calling the assertion gross and tone deaf assertion. As questions from the Splitgate 2 neighborhood poured in, Proulx doubled down on social media saying that he wouldn’t apologize and that the hat wasn’t a political assertion and needs to be taken at face worth.
At this time, nevertheless, he’s singing a special tune. He posted on X with the straightforward caption, “No excuses, I’m sorry,” accompanied by a virtually three-minute video explaining the choice to put on the hat and the intention behind it.
“We would have liked one thing to seize consideration, and the sincere reality is, we tried to think about one thing, and that is what we got here up with,” Proulx mentioned.
He acknowledged that he was conscious the hat would increase controversy. His apology was not for the hat itself, however the dialogue surrounding the hat throughout the Splitgate 2 neighborhood. Proulx claimed he didn’t need the division he himself sowed. “The rationale I’m sorry is due to what this has completed to the neighborhood,” he mentioned.
He continued: “We knew there can be some degree of controversy, however we actually noticed this as a meme that was sort of stating our reality.” As Proulx was making his assertion, a couple of miles away in Los Angeles’ trend district the place the Summer time Sport Fest Play Days campus resides, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was conducting raids snatching up individuals simply going about their lives; raids that led to city-wide clashes between individuals defending their neighbors and defenders of a merciless regime.
However it’s not only a hat. Aping a political assertion that has been used to enact state violence isn’t “a meme,” it’s a continuation of that violence. I consider the individuals in attendance on the present and those that work on the YouTube Theater who’re immigrants or have immigrant relations. I consider the bartender on the Metropolis Market Social Home, the venue the place SGF holds its Play Days occasion, who instructed me concerning the protocol they’ve in case ICE reveals up: how individuals can cover in a room within the basement and hand out playing cards in order that they don’t have to talk to ICE and probably implicate themself.
Proulx’s assertion, regardless of its type, isn’t simply in dangerous style. It’s a stark reminder to these those who their lives and households are in danger. And saying ‘I’m sorry, it was only a meme,’ isn’t sufficient.
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