There’s a line in showbiz that goes, “There’s no such factor as unhealthy publicity.” Ian Proulx, CEO of Splitgate 2 developer 1047 Video games, has just lately discovered the onerous approach that’s not completely true.
Final week, in the course of the Summer time Recreation 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 America Nice Once more slogan. The Splitgate 2 neighborhood, journalists, and common players seized on the hat (and never, you already know, the sport), instantly calling the assertion gross and tone deaf. 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 must be taken at face worth.
Right this moment, nevertheless, he’s singing a unique tune. He posted on X with the easy caption, “No excuses, I’m sorry,” accompanied by an almost three-minute video explaining the choice to put on the hat and the intention behind it.
“We wanted one thing to seize consideration, and the sincere fact is, we tried to consider one thing, and that is what we got here up with,” Proulx mentioned.
He acknowledged that he was conscious the hat could be controversial. 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 explanation I’m sorry is due to what this has accomplished to the neighborhood,” he mentioned.
He continued: “We knew there could be some stage of controversy, however we actually noticed this as a meme that was sort of stating our fact.” As Proulx was making his assertion, just a few miles away in Los Angeles’ vogue district, the place the Summer time Recreation 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 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 people who work on the YouTube Theater who’re immigrants or have immigrant relations. I consider the employee on the Metropolis Market Social Home, the venue the place SGF holds its Play Days occasion, who informed me in regards to the protocol they’ve in case ICE reveals up: how individuals can cover in a room within the basement and hand out playing cards so that they don’t have to talk to ICE and doubtlessly implicate themselves.
Proulx’s assertion, regardless of its kind, isn’t simply in unhealthy 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.