​

The developer behind Yooka-Laylee, a Kickstarter-funded spiritual successor to the beloved Banjo-Kazooie series plans to remove the Youtuber Jontron (Jon Jafari) from the game's cast of voice actors via a Day 1 update after his recent series controversial tweets regarding ethnic minorities in America. Jontron was always a big, vocal fan of the series and was invited to collaborate on the project back in February 2015. Many might say that he was pivotal in reviving the interest in Banjo-Kazooie through his content, both on Game Grumps and his own Youtube channel. Playtonic explained their position in an interview with Gameindustry.biz:

"We recently became aware of comments made by voice artist JonTron after development on Yooka-Laylee had been completed (...) JonTron is a talented video presenter who we were initially, two years ago, happy to include as a voice contributor in our game. However, in light of his recent personal viewpoints we have made the decision to remove JonTron's inclusion in the game via a forthcoming content update. We would like to make absolutely clear that we do not endorse or support JonTron's personal viewpoints and that, as an external fan contributor, he does not represent Playtonic in any capacity. Playtonic is a studio that celebrates diversity in all forms and strives to make games that everyone can enjoy. 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."

This recent development in the Jontron controversy raises an important question regarding Free Speech. I can fully understand Playtonic's position - they're distancing themselves from Jontron in order to prevent any damage to their brand. On the other hand, one could argue that Jontron is free to voice his views on his own platform and shouldn't be penalised for them elsewhere.

Naturally this is a very controversial issue, so I'm eager to hear your thoughts on the matter. What's your opinion? Tell us in comments below!

Update: Jontron acknowledged the decision via his Twitter and although he finds it unfortunate, he understands it and wishes the developers a successful launch.

"Unfortunate to see Playtonic remove me from Yooka Laylee, but I understand their decision. I wish them the best with their launch!"

~https://www.twitter.com/JonTronShow/status/845038284967493638

Source (Gameindustry.biz)

 

[grossaffe]

Freedom of speech is not freedom from societal repercussions. When your image is your brand, don't be surprised when your brand loses value in the public based on the things you say. Chick-Fil-A suffered repercussions when people decided to stop eating there when its proprietor decided to come out and denounce gay people. The important part of freedom of speech is that it's not illegal. But it's equally important that others can choose to denounce you or not associate with you as a result of what you say.

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

I don't understand, what exactly did Jon Tron say? Can someone give us some quotes?

 

[the_randomizer]

What 1st Amendment?

Freedom of speed in the US, as long as death threats, etc aren't made and so on. As per the US constitution he violated nothing. But Playtronic got their panties in a bunch over what he said. Frankly he should've said them after the game was out, that way they couldn't remove it. It's still pretty effing stupid for them to do it.

I can't stand SJW pandering

 

[Jacklack3]

i did try watching some of his stuff , but he never really appealed to me :/
i only like his beard >v>"

can you recommend me a video from him ?

Bootleg Pokemon Games
Hercules
Dino City
(these are gold.)

 

[Foxi4]

I'll be buying the game, despite not particularly agreeing with the decision. Jon has every right to his opinion as you said. He also has every right for people to view him as a bit of a loon thanks to how poorly he represented himself in his, "debate."

And I find what happened to Pewdiepie and Jon to be perfectly reasonable. We are all entitled to our opinion, just as companies are entitled to distance themselves from us when we make controversial statements or statements that don't represent them as a whole.

This has been happening to regular celebrities for ages now, we are now moving into an age where it effects YouTubers as well. This kind of treatment can be related to the fall of Mel Gibson a few years ago. And I don't find it that crazy, nor do I feel any sympathy for Jon. Not that I condemn him, I don't disagree with everything he said. But we could all see a mile away that what he discussed would have repercussions, that's how the media world works, and if that bothers you there isn't much fixing it either. That's just business.

Of course it's business, which is precisely why I won't be buying the game. As a customer that's the only corrective action I can take - I don't support the decision, so I won't buy the product. The only carrot I have is my wallet, the Free Market will fill in the gaps.

Freedom of speech is not freedom from societal repercussions. When your image is your brand, don't be surprised when your brand loses value in the public based on the things you say. Chick-Fil-A suffered repercussions when people decided to stop eating there when its proprietor decided to come out and denounce gay people. The important part of freedom of speech is that it's not illegal. But it's equally important that others can choose to denounce you or not associate with you as a result of what you say.

Ah, my fellow libertarian. You're absolutely correct, there are repercussions to everything we do or say, I can see both sides of the issue. That's precisely why I'm letting the Free Market decide who's in the right and who's in the wrong. I'm sure Jontron was aware of what his comments will lead to, but the whole issue is blown way out of proportion. He was turned into some kind of a Nazi caricature overnight, and that's just silly.

 

[SWRosetta]

I understand a company wants to avoid relations with an indivdual for the sake of their own image , however this one only backfired on them. Jontron IIRC only did some sounds for this game and they are removing that just because of some comments he made ... seems super petty to me.

 

[yodamerlin]

What 1st Amendment?

It's the American one that says the government won't arrest you for what you say.

 

[shaunj66]

Good. He must be absolutely gutted given his fondness for Rare and their games. Swings and roundabouts I'm afraid... People need to learn that what they say can have repercussions. Far too many people spout absolute drivel and think their opinion is valid or fact just because they assume no one will want to correct them for fear of offending someone or being non-PC.

 

[eworm]

This is ridiculous. Guess they're gonna hand over questionnaires to every single person involved in the project now and remove all people who have views differing from whatever arbitrary criteria they chose. Yes, we hire you for your skills, but we fire you for your opinions.

This made me go and check JonTron's statement. I see no way in which he's wrong or even controversial - in fact he just earned surprising amounts of my respect - but that's not a discussion for this here thread.

 

[the_randomizer]

It's the American one that says the government won't arrest you for what you say.

But it doesn't stop companies from pulling a douche move like this, however.

 

[kehkou]

While I certainly do not condone racism, I don't see what it has to do with the game directly, unless he was explicitly posting as an employee.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Freedom of speed in the US, as long as death threats, etc aren't made and so on. As per the US constitution he violated nothing. But Playtronic got their panties in a bunch over what he said. Frankly he should've said them after the game was out, that way they couldn't remove it. It's still pretty effing stupid for them to do it.

I can't stand SJW pandering

Yeah there's freedom of speech in the US, and most countries in America.
However, having freedom of speech doesn't correlate with how a company or industry will see you afterwards, much more if the person who makes the comment belongs to said industry or is paid in any way by it, and even worse the company is known for developing material for children or for young audiences.

Nintendo is a clear example for the last case.

The fact that if you make an argument saying you basically condone and/or support white supremacy, the enterprise itself is being watched by millions, and if they allow said person to share his "thoughts" on a certain way which is not seen as proper social morals, then the enterprise could be seen as also condoning and supporting said thoughts.

They did the right thing, and I'm glad more big industries are giving the middle finger to this bunch of retards like PewDiePie and Jontron.
Let them know that just because they are celebrities doesn't mean they can get away with whatever they want.

 

[chavosaur]

Keep in mind, the context of the comments ought to be shared as well if you want a better idea of why they are making this decision.

This is a quote of some of the highlights of that Jon said during his debate and the tweets he was making that led to this decision.

Spoiler

In regards to black people

• Well I don't know if these arguments can hold up decade after decade. There is like, 18 year old people who are committing a disproportionate amount of crime and they were born after me. So how do you explain that? Is that Jim Crow? Nobody wants to get into the realistic things... They just want to blame whites more and more.
  
  
• I don't understand why it is anyone else's responsibility but their own. Do they not have agency?
  
  
• The UK didn't have Jim Crow, France didn't have Jim Crow. We still have Muslim riots over there. In sweden, they didn't have Jim Crow. There are riots in the streets of Stockholm.
  
  
• So Jim Crow is one aspect of it here in America but in the rest of the western world, we don't have these same precedents and there is still disproportionate crime in those communities.
  
  
• You can't make the argument that whites would be okay with them becoming a minority in the country their ancestors built if it doesn't apply to other countries.
  
  
• Wealthy blacks also commit more crime than poor whites, that's a fact.
  
  
• But we've been hearing this single mother thing for decades. It's getting a bit tired. That's why you're seeing this rise in "nazis".

On Japan

• Nobody would ask Japan if it was okay if Japan became a minority Japanese nation.
  
  
• I disagree I think it [Japan] is a model society.
  
  
• How many terrorist attacks are in Japan?

On being white

• What is so offensive about white people saying they'd like to preserve their demographic majority?
  
  
• In terms of a demographic majority, I don't think a nation can exist without one. This truly multicultural every single person is a different race or religion. I don't know if that's really sustainable long term.
  
  
• (On Irish/Italians being discriminated against) Being irish or people not liking the irish or italians doesn't make them not white. It just makes them not liked. Perhaps they had some undesirable traits. I heard the Italian Mafia made the rounds. But that would have been a good argument to restrict italian immigration!
  
  
• It's clear that whites are not allowed to speak up against their demographic um... oblivion.
  
  
• They're [whites] are not being killed, they're being displaced. You are the same guy who says that Europeans displaced the native Americans but apparently, when other people do it to white Americans, it's okay because fuck white people.
  
  
• Why is it when the chinese were trying to colonise tibet, why was that a save tibet situation but when it's white people... I'm using an analogy to try to give a parallel situation so you can see the hypocrisy.
  
  
• Do you consider the european colonisation of Africa a bad thing? (Destiny replies that it's complicated). It's only complicated because it's whites.
  
  
• If white people go to south africa and colonised there, it's the white people encroaching on the African's land and they should give it back.
  
  
• There is a clear divide in the way that people think. White people tend towards the Libertarian side and at least the first generation Mexicans vote heavily for government handouts. (Destiny mentions that red states take more govt handouts than blue states). These states (Southern red states (Alabama, Loiusiana)) have high non white populations.
  
  
• There is an absolute disproportionate of crime committed to whites by nonwhites. There's no arguing that that's just FBI statistics. But white people are not allowed to address this because it's called racist by people like you.
  
  
• In historically white countries, it is seen as a moral imperative that whites don't resist their own displacement. If they resist it, they're racist. You can see this in every white country on planet earth. The status quo thinks that the only logical conclusion to the country, to atone for the sins of the white past is to keep letting in people from the third world until white people are a minority.
  
  
• When white people are aggressed against in their own nations by people that are not white, they are told constantly, check your privilege. You colonised us, you owe us this land blah blah blah.
  
  
• That is not true that they (irish/italians) were not considered white people.

On Trump

• Trump is a reaction to the retarded identity politics of the left for at least the last 4 years.
  
  
• I don't recall Trump ever saying anything explicitly racist.
  
  
• When you have these illegals coming up and being so bold to say "try deporting me Trump", that's a sign of a problem.
  
  
• Nobody wants to become a minority in their own country. Why is it bad if they (whites) remain a majority?

Mexican immigrants

• Ay yi yi dude you're just virtue signalling. Not all Mexicans are going to go on welfare but a lot of them are going to commit crimes. The El Salvadoreans are going to create the MS13 gangs.
  
  
• These days the confederate flag has been banned, they're burning american flags in the streets. It's a changing nation. And I think immigration policies that haven't been the smartest are partially to blame for that.
  
  
• What do you call a large number of people from one specific place, coming in, setting up their ethnic enclaves and then waving their own flag inside of our nation? There are large swathes of them who want to break parts of America back into Mexico.

Europe

• I mean who in Europe is causing riots currently? It is all interconnected (to the US) dude because Europeans are the ones who founded this country and Europe is having similar problems. So if you look at the parallels, you can understand.
  
  
• Btw, Europe and America it's not different, even though you say it's different, it is not. They're all facing problems coming from a similar part of the world.
  
  
• When people, lets say the French, see an influx of islamic migrants who come in and say, you don't give us good enough handouts. You're being racist to us and then they're rioting. It's all intertwined, it's the same situation but they speak a different language. That's like you saying a man ate a sandwich in France and a man ate a sandwich in America is not the same situation.

Other musings

• Why does an economy have to keep growing forever? People don't need gadgets all the time.
  
  
• Are people getting along better? It seems to me that people are screaming more recently.
  
  
• We've gotten rid of discrimination in our western countries. If you don't think we've gotten rid of discrimination, you're living in a fantasy land.
  
  
• This oppression in America, it doesn't exist.

 

[yodamerlin]

But it doesn't stop companies from pulling a douche move like this, however.

That was the point I was making. He's not been arrested, 1st amendment should not be quoted.

 

[Jayro]

So let me get this straight...

I buy a $300 Nintendo Wii U, in hopes of getting this game.

They scrap this version.

I buy yet ANOTHER $300 Nintendo machine to play this game.

They don't believe in JonTron's viewpoints, so the pussies at Platonic remove the best voice actor in the game.



Yeah, fuck Platonic Games at this point, I'm done. Gonna pirate the shit out of this game, since I've already spent $600 in hardware in hopes of playing it.

 

[Issac]

That's a shame. I like Jon and I think he has a fantastic voice. He's even singing sometimes, so I'm going to link two songs that are really worth watching and hearing.
Sure he might have made some stupid statements on twitter, but so what? As long as he doesn't spew out whatever political bullshit in the game, then what's the harm in having his voice there?

Imagine a game like Guitar Hero saying "Oh wait, we will remove any Kiss songs via a patch since Gene Simmons is a Trump supporter".

The songs:
Katy Perry's Fireworks with cool animations:


An original song together with Schmoyoho:

 

[DarkenedMatter]

Talk about an opinion here because I think he is pretty annoying.

 

[CrimsonMaple]

I don't agree with what Jon said. We can all choose to disagree with him. But it's petty to remove him. Removing him from the game solves nothing. He still said those things, and he still was part of the game. That will never change. They can't hide it. This SJW stuff really pisses me off and needs to stop.

 

[Smash Br0]

"However, in light of his recent personal viewpoints we have made the decision to remove JonTron's inclusion in the game via a forthcoming content update."

I take it this means that Jon's work will be included in the base game, and removed with a patch?

If that's the case... at least you can play the game with his work included (if you want to) by playing without any patches.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I felt the need to add this, because even if it is a songify and not him actually singing, this is a classic.