JonTron of former GameGrumps fame and popular YouTuber has found himself in hot water over some comments he made that expressed racist and proved-wrong alt-right talking points. I won’t be repeating what JonTron said here, but if you’re curious you can see the statements here where they’ve been compiled.
Some of the statements JonTron made were pretty racist and have been actively proven to be false beliefs, which is why so many people are riled up about the things he said. He’s spouting misinformation about topics he has no business discussing and it’s gotten him knocked off the Yooka-Laylee project offered to him by Playtonic a few years ago.
You see, JonTron is a huge fan of Banjo-Kazooie, so Playtonic themselves were ecstatic to reach out to a fan and offer him a voice position in the game.
@PlaytonicGames @grantkirkhope Also I'm flattered you'd ask. I'd do a voice in a heartbeat <3.
— Jon Jafari (@JonTronShow) February 16, 2015
You’ll notice that tweet was sent way back in 2015, before JonTron went on this ugly racist rant on video. Yesterday when the studio found out about the racist rant, here’s what they posted to their blog to address the issue:
We recently became aware of comments made by voice artist JonTron after development on Yooka-Laylee had been completed. JonTron is a talented video presenter who we were initially, two years ago, happy to include as a voice contributor in our game. However, in light of his recent personal viewpoints we have made the decision to remove JonTron’s inclusion in the game via a forthcoming content update.
We would like to make absolutely clear that we do not endorse or support JonTron’s personal viewpoints and that, as an external fan contributor, he does not represent Playtonic in any capacity. Playtonic is a studio that celebrates diversity in all forms and strives to make games that everyone can enjoy. As such, we deeply regret any implied association that could make players feel anything but 100% comfortable in our game worlds, or distract from the incredible goodwill and love shown by our fans and Kickstarter backers.
That’s a pretty civil way to handle it and thankfully, JonTron was equally civil in his response to the news:
Unfortunate to see Playtonic remove me from Yooka Laylee, but I understand their decision. I wish them the best with their launch!
— Jon Jafari (@JonTronShow) March 23, 2017
It’s unfortunate when things like this happen in the game world, but I have to say regardless of how I feel about JonTron’s personal views, I appreciate him not going on a mad Twitter tirade for the developers choosing to distance themselves from him. He expressed his controversial views and had consequences and he seems willingly to accept those consequences, which is an admirable way to handle the whole situation.
Yooka-Laylee is releasing on several platforms starting April 11th, but Nintendo Switch owners will have to wait for a later release date.
Yooka-Laylee for PS4 – $39.99
