'GTA Online' launches new 'profanity filter' after gamers create missions inspired by Charlie Kirk shooting
Quick Summary
- Rockstar Games plans a new 'profanity filter' for 'GTA Online.'
- The company aims to prevent users from creating missions mimicking the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
- Kirk's name has been added to an internal blacklist to flag inappropriate content.
The creator of the popular Grand Theft Auto series says it’s working to ban users from creating custom missions that mimic the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Rockstar Games, the company behind GTA Online, the real-time version of the long-running title, launched a feature in December that allows users to design customized missions that can be played by other online gamers, Variety reported Tuesday.
Shortly after the feature debuted, a number of Kirk-themed player-created missions were published on the GTA server, including one titled “We Are Charlie Kirk.” Archived footage of the mission shared online places the user's character atop a university building looking down on a public gathering on campus, eerily similar to the scene at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was gunned down Sept. 10.
One version of the mission posted on YouTube shows a gunman fatally shooting another man speaking to students while seated under a white tent — a location clearly inspired by the “American Comeback” tent where Kirk was shot.
The feature was part of the launch of GTA’s new “Safehouse in the Hills” storyline that launched Dec. 10, according to Variety.
The report also stated “Charlie Kirk” has been added to a blacklist for specific phrases, known internally at Rockstar as a “profanity filter.” According to Variety, Rockstar is expected to change its name from “profanity filter” to a more expansive title to signal that the tool will be “used to flag various content — not just profanity — that Rockstar does not want its players to be able to bring into the game, including real-world events like the Kirk assassination.”
The Christian Post reached out to Rockstar Games for comment Thursday.
Kirk, who was 31 years old, was fatally shot in the neck Sept. 10 during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, shortly after a member of the audience asked him about mass shootings by transgender-identifying individuals.
In the wake of Kirk's death, students and teachers from across the nation have faced backlash for mocking the assassination, including a student who was expelled from Texas State University for mimicking Kirk's fatal shot. Several U.S. companies also fired employees for mocking or otherwise supporting Kirk's assassination.
Cable news network MSNBC fired veteran political analyst and former White House strategist Matthew Dowd following widespread backlash to his on-air comments linking what he called Kirk's "hate speech" to the "environment" that led to the fatal shooting in Utah.
As details emerged of the attack, MSNBC anchor Katy Tur turned to Dowd with a question about "the environment in which a shooting like this happens."
Dowd's response zeroed in on Kirk, whom he called "one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups."
Dowd, a former chief strategist for George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign who joined MSNBC in 2022 after years at ABC News, later apologized for his comments.
