Ubisoft will remove podcast episodes in Watch Dogs: Legion, after outcry arose from the journalists’ real-life comments on transgender issues and the word “TERF.”
Kotaku reports that Helen Lewis will be removed from two of the in-game BuccanEar podcasts that feature her. The podcasts feature real political commentators, with Lewis’ character (also called Helen) discussing how fascism had seized London, and how it had occurred in history.
An Ubisoft spokesperson confirmed to Kotaku in an email that Lewis would be removed due to her work as a journalist drawing ire from some.
“We were made aware of controversial remarks from a journalist whose voice-over performance appears in two in-game podcasts in Watch Dogs: Legion. Neither Ubisoft nor the game reflect this journalist’s viewpoints.
The development team worked with an external producer to select speaker profiles for these podcasts and were not aware of the controversy at the time of booking or recording.
While the in-game podcasters are following a pre-approved script and are not speaking in their own name or with their own opinions, we understand this collaboration itself may be seen as offensive and we deeply regret any hurt this has caused.
In response, we will be replacing these two podcast episodes in an upcoming update and will reinforce our background checks for partners in the future.”
Lewis is a journalist for the London office of The Atlantic; though an op-ed for The Times is one of the causes for the controversy. The piece was entitled “A man can’t just say he has turned into a woman.”
The op-ed acknowledges transgender people suffer discrimination, though the governments new laws at the time (stating a declaration of one’s gender was sufficient, as oppose to a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and living two years under the new gender) would not end this.
Lewis further discussed biological sex, how culture builds around the sexes, and how some are trying to “shake up our categories.” Lewis was critical of how the new law would mean “trendsters” could simply declare their gender; erasing good will built by genuinely transgender people, and doing nothing to solve discrimination of women or transgender people.
Another piece Lewis wrote in the New Statesmen, “Welcome to the age of ironic bigotry, where old hatreds are cloaked in woke new language,” was another piece that drew negative attention on Lewis.
Therein Lewis stated “If you understand why ‘Zionist’ has become an anti-Semitic codeword, there’s no excuse for calling women ‘terfs’.” TERF means “trans-exclusionary radical feminist;” essentially a feminist with critical or negative viewpoints on transgender people and issues.
Along with comparing feminists discriminating against women who did not support transgender issues to anti-semitism, she compared it to the prejudice against women allegedly from GamerGate (which she described as “an online and offline harassment campaign was waged against prominent women in video-gaming.”
Others have stated GamerGate was a consumer revolt against bad practices in video games journalism. Even today debate rages as to what its intentions were, what instances of harassment were genuine, and if those who had harassed were involved with GamerGate.
Lewis’ article also explains how despite Dominique McLean (a.k.a. SonicFox) discussing harassment he received as a gay black furry e-sports player; he still made disparaging comments against TERFs. Particularly, a now-deleted Twitter video captioned “What I do to terfs,” featuring his male character viciously beating a female character in Mortal Kombat 11; shouting TERF each time a blow rained down.
Lewis critisized how TERF is used as an insult (primarily against women), and those who do “still feel the old impulse towards woman-hating, but won’t admit it, and have convinced themselves they are only chastising the impure. Witch-finders did something similar in the 17th century.”
Lewis explains how different internet communities can “wilfully obscure” the meaning of words and phrases, such as the claim the 4Chan prank to convince others that the OK hand symbol was a white supremacist symbol was allegedly picked up by real white supremacists. Likewise, she explains how Zionist is an ideology, but became an anti-semetic insult.
This concludes with Lewis explaining that TERF is used as an insult against women, rather than against those with criticism of transphobia.
“In the same way, ‘shouting at women you don’t like’ is reframed as ‘legitimate criticism of transphobia’. The intended audience knows exactly what’s being said, but the speaker maintains plausible deniability.
As it happens, I told Dominique McLean that his use of ‘terf’ was a glorification of misogyny. He responded by calling me a “terf”. Another user added: “fuck off back to Mumsnet, terf”. […] The ensuing wave of abuse included an image of an anime character pointing a gun at the screen, with the words “shut the fuck up, terf”. Twitter ruled that post did not violate its abuse guidelines, and neither did McLean’s video. (It relented after I went public.)
I wrote about GamerGate in 2014. Everything I received for calling out McLean was identical to the vitriol I got then, just with a new epithet meaning “woman” attached to it. “Shut up, bitch” is now “shut up, terf”.”
Despite Lewis’ pro-feminist stance, some appeared to take issue with Lewis’ opinion on transgender issues; including Twitter users, other online news outlets, and ResetEra. However, Lewis does have her defenders.
Ian Dunt, the Editor of Politics.co.uk and another guest voice in the game, tweeted “As one of the other voices in the game, let me go on record to say that I’m incensed by this. Whether you agree with Helen’s views on trans issues or not, they are legitimate debate and she is entitled to hold and express them.”
Dunt continues, explaining she discussed none of the above issues in the in-game podcast, and that “a little Twitter mob got excited and now she is simply cancelled.” Dunt concluded by pointing out the hypocrisy of the game’s themes, yet condemning someone for their opinions and beliefs.
“What utter cowardice. The silencing of someone on all issues, even analysis of a fictional political universe, because people disagreed with what they said on another issue.
Just absolutely abysmal. And worst of all, in an anti-fascist game. Wiping away someone’s voice in a software update: the digital equivalent of burning books.”
Some Twitter have defended Ubisoft’s right to remove Lewis from their game, and that Lewis suffering “consequences for her actions” are part of free speech (freedom to speak, but not free of consequence). Others have stated Ubisoft was unjustified, bowing to an outrage mob offended on transgender issues.
Much like how some accuse GamerGate of using a righteous cause to harass women; it cannot be easily be proven or disproven if those critical of Lewis did so because of her stance on transgender issues, or because they hate her gender.
Image: Ubisoft
