Rockstar Games has removed a fan-made mission simulating the assassination of Charlie Kirk from its popular online crime sim Grand Theft Auto Online, with the publisher even banning the conservative activist's name to prevent similar missions from appearing.
As reported by IGN, developer Rockstar North introduced a new feature in the A Safehouse in the Hills update on December 10, allowing GTA Online players to create and share unofficial missions within the game. Not long after the tool was released, however, users began populating the mission directory with recreations of Charlie Kirk's assassination, with one titled "We are Charlie Kirk" being perhaps the most prominent of them.
Now, according to a January 13 Variety report, Rockstar Games has removed this and added Kirk's name to its repository of banned words. Sources told Variety that the "profanity filter" the company refers to internally will be renamed to underscore that the tool isn't used only to flag obscenities but also various harmful content, too.
GameSpot found uploads of the "We are Charlie Kirk" mission circulating on platforms like YouTube and X. If you're familiar with the assassination, then you know how the mission plays out.
While the "We are Charlie Kirk" mission has been removed from GTA Online, and Variety's sources say other user-generated content related to Kirk is no longer available, IGN discovered on January 14 that the mission directory reportedly still features objectives recreating Kirk's assassination. A "Charlie Kirk assassination" objective seems to still pop up (maybe because it is written in Korean and made by a South Korean user, per IGN) when you search the directory for "Kirk" in English.
GameSpot has reached out to Rockstar Games for comment but has yet to receive a reply.
Charlie Kirk was a 31-year-old right-wing activist and founder of the youth organizing group Turning Point USA who mobilized for Donald Trump. Known for his inflammatory comments and debate seminars, Kirk was assassinated in Utah on September 10 while speaking about gun violence. His death has raised a furor around free speech, guns, and the nature of repercussions.
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As reported by IGN, developer Rockstar North introduced a new feature in the A Safehouse in the Hills update on December 10, allowing GTA Online players to create and share unofficial missions within the game. Not long after the tool was released, however, users began populating the mission directory with recreations of Charlie Kirk's assassination, with one titled "We are Charlie Kirk" being perhaps the most prominent of them.
Now, according to a January 13 Variety report, Rockstar Games has removed this and added Kirk's name to its repository of banned words. Sources told Variety that the "profanity filter" the company refers to internally will be renamed to underscore that the tool isn't used only to flag obscenities but also various harmful content, too.
GameSpot found uploads of the "We are Charlie Kirk" mission circulating on platforms like YouTube and X. If you're familiar with the assassination, then you know how the mission plays out.
While the "We are Charlie Kirk" mission has been removed from GTA Online, and Variety's sources say other user-generated content related to Kirk is no longer available, IGN discovered on January 14 that the mission directory reportedly still features objectives recreating Kirk's assassination. A "Charlie Kirk assassination" objective seems to still pop up (maybe because it is written in Korean and made by a South Korean user, per IGN) when you search the directory for "Kirk" in English.
GameSpot has reached out to Rockstar Games for comment but has yet to receive a reply.
Charlie Kirk was a 31-year-old right-wing activist and founder of the youth organizing group Turning Point USA who mobilized for Donald Trump. Known for his inflammatory comments and debate seminars, Kirk was assassinated in Utah on September 10 while speaking about gun violence. His death has raised a furor around free speech, guns, and the nature of repercussions.
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