There’s a line in showbiz that goes, “There’s no such factor as unhealthy publicity.” Ian Proulx, CEO of 1047 Video games and creator of Splitgate 2 has just lately realized the onerous means that’s not solely true.
Final week, through the Summer season Recreation Fest keynote livestream, Proulx got here out to advertise his recreation sporting 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 group, journalists, and common players seized on the hat (and never, you already know, the sport) instantly calling the assertion gross and tone deaf assertion. As questions from the Splitgate 2 group 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.
At present, nevertheless, he’s singing a distinct tune. He posted on X with the straightforward 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 would have liked one thing to seize consideration, and the sincere reality is, we tried to consider one thing, and that is what we got here up with,” Proulx stated.
He acknowledged that he was conscious the hat would elevate controversy. His apology was not for the hat itself, however the dialogue surrounding the hat throughout the Splitgate 2 group. Proulx claimed he didn’t need the division he himself sowed. “The rationale I’m sorry is due to what this has achieved to the group,” he stated.
He continued: “We knew there could be some degree of controversy, however we actually noticed this as a meme that was form of stating our reality.” As Proulx was making his assertion, a couple of miles away in Los Angeles’ vogue district the place the Summer season Recreation Fest Play Days campus resides, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was conducting raids snatching up folks simply going about their lives; raids that led to city-wide clashes between folks defending their neighbors and defenders of a merciless regime.
However it isn’t 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 folks in attendance on the present and those that work on the YouTube Theater who’re immigrants or have immigrant members of the family. I consider the bartender 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 folks can conceal in a room within the basement and hand out playing cards so that they don’t have to talk to ICE and probably implicate themself.
Proulx’s assertion, regardless of its kind, isn’t simply in unhealthy style. It’s a stark reminder to these people who their lives and households are in danger. And saying ‘I’m sorry, it was only a meme,’ isn’t sufficient.