Video game studio Bethesda has reportedly removed a post on X (formerly Twitter) after some users alleged it was related to the fatal shooting of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. The studio’s post, shared to the Elon Musk-owned platform on September 14, featured a clip from the studio’s newly released “The Order of Giants” DLC for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. In the clip, captioned “good kitty,” the titular character pets a cat and says, “You don’t care much about those fascists, do you?”
The post’s proximity to Kirk’s widely publicized murder on September 10 prompted backlash from some of the studio’s followers after former games industry employee and prominent conservative, Mark Kern (aka @Grummz), shared the clip with his “I am being told that @bethesda just panic deleted this post. Do you guys still see it? Don’t let them get away with it. If this was an edgy social media mgr they need to be fired, and a statement issued.”
Bethesda (The Elder Scrolls; Fallout) has since deleted the post, which comprised one of many promotional uploads following the DLC’s September 4 release. The studio’s latest post, shared September 13, includes a seven-second clip showcasing the new content. The replies, however, have little to do with gameplay. The most-liked reply features a screenshot of the now-deleted “good kitty’ post. “Fire this person or face the consequences,” it reads. The original post from Bethesda has fewer than 1,000 likes; the pointed reply has garnered more than 11,000.
While Bethesda has not responded to fan complaints, some X users are challenging other fans in the replies, citing the Indiana Jones franchise’s repeated inclusion of Nazis as primary antagonists. In 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, set in 1936, Jones races to recover the Ark of the Covenant before Nazi German forces do. In 1989’s Last Crusade, Jones works to rescue his Holy Grail-hunting father after he is kidnapped by Nazis.
Bethesda isn’t the first studio to come under fire following Kirk’s death. Ghost of Yotei studio Sucker Punch Productions terminated one of its veteran employees following a related social media post.
This is a developing story.
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