The popular YouTube host Jon Jafari’s voice has been removed from the upcoming video game Yooka-Laylee following his incendiary and false claims about race and immigration in the U.S. earlier in March.
Jafari, known online as JonTron, sparked outrage after his tweets and comments in a March 13 debate with streamer Steven Bonnell repeatedly centered on his concern about declining white populations in the U.S. At one point, Jafari told Bonnell he could be open to the ideal of immigration, saying that if immigrants “assimilated, they would enter the gene pool, eventually.”
The controversy reached Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic, which had hired Jafari to do voice work on the game in 2015. Playtonic told GamesIndustry.biz on Thursday that it had removed Jafari from the game “in light of his recent personal viewpoints.”
“Playtonic is a studio that celebrates diversity in all forms and strives to make games that everyone can enjoy,” the developer said. “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.
Yooka-Laylee, which will be available for most gaming platforms including Playstation 4, XboxOne and the Nintendo Switch, will be released next month.
Jafari did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- Essay: The Tyre Nichols Videos Demand Solemnity, Not Sensationalism
- For People With Disabilities, Losing Abortion Access Can Be a Matter of Life or Death
- Inside the Stealth Efforts to Smuggle Starlink Internet Into Iran
- Natasha Lyonne on Poker Face and Creating Characters Who Subvert Leading-Lady Tropes
- How to Help the Victims and Community After the Monterey Park Shooting
- Why Grocery Staples Are So Expensive Right Now
- Quantum Computers Could Solve Countless Problems—and Create a Lot of New Ones
- Where to Watch All of the 2023 Oscar Nominees
- How to Be Mindful if You Hate Meditating
