Modern Warfare 2 hit by anti-gay claim

RegHardware: Videogame Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 contains a homophobic slur, it has been claimed.

Shortly after the weapons tutorial at the beginning of the game, and when the player has no equipment, he is asked by another if he has ever seen a grown man naked.

After a few laughs, the player's character appears to ask: "Hey man, are you still gay?"

Although the character then says he's only kidding, he follows the remark up with: "Don't ask don't tell."

[tdrules]

this is related to the recent change in US policy in being gay in the army.
the old tagline if you were gay was "dont ask dont tell", they wont ask what your sexual orientation, but you were not to flaunt it.

[Hellsvacancy]

People get SOOO upset 4 the smallest things these days

2-day i made a comment on N4g about the japanese eatin cats/dogs (there was a point 2 my statement) then i had these mofos calln me a RACIST i couldnt believe it that was the last thing i meant, funnily enough that article was about MW2 aswell

Ill just stay off this topic i always end up usin the wrong words

[calis]

It's the bubble wrapped world we live in where the whingers get the voice and 90% of people don't care about it.

[Government Cheese]

These gay rights groups need to learn how to take a joke and stop acting like the entire world is out to get them.

[Guido]

Blonds will claim to be their own race of people and ban all blonde jokes.

Fat moms will claim to be their own race of people and ban all fat mamma jokes.

Skinny folks will become their own race of folks and ban all skinny jokes. You know, the jokes like "you're so skinny you could turn sideways, stick out your tongue and you'd look like a zipper"...

Come on folks, this stuff is getting carried away.

[kraze07]

"2-day i made a comment on N4g about the japanese eatin cats/dogs (there was a point 2 my statement) then i had these mofos calln me a RACIST"

You do know that the Japanese don't eat cats and dogs right? Some Chinese and other asian cultures do though. That's probably why they called you racist.

[Mr_Bun]

I thought the "Fight Against Grenade Spamming" was funny

[Hellsvacancy]

@above - Perhaps i should of done a wee bit of research on the matter b- openin my mouth (summin u use 2 get told off at school 4) but that wasnt the point i was tryin 2 make at the time - my bad

[SprSynJn]

Then learn to be quiet and they wont come after you. I am seriously confused as to why 90% of the world's population must bend over backwards for the other 10%. Boggles the mind.

[Christopher]

Sorry, but the use of 'gay' as a derogatory reference is used in all media arenas in order to portray characters in the desired light. Modern Warfare is just as much anti-gay as it is racist, which is to say it isn't at all.

You can't read a science fiction or fantasy novel and base whether the author or the story itself as pro or anti alternative lifestyle because of what one character portrays.

[Mr_Bun]

I thought you were allowed to call people gay as long as you follow up with "...not that there's anything wrong with it".

Doesn't that still fly?

[Darkstorn]

Infinity Ward wants to make the troops look 'realistic.' I don't think this is the way to do it, but I think we can all agree that this developer is an attention whore.
But you should remember that racism, sexism, and discrimination are often perpetuated most by those who DON'T think there's a problem. Discrimination still exists in this country, and if you don't have something proactive to add to the debate, you risk looking like a fool.

[Darkstorn]

@1.3-
Well, the religious right IS out to get these people, and the Right is a horrifyingly powerful party in the United States. These people are treated like garbage every day, even in places like San Francisco.

[jjohan35]

The vietnamese eat dogs. Not sure about Japanese.

[IaMs12]

This is ridiculous people take it to the extreme, and OH dont get me started on racism, that really Fin pisses me off. I hate how people always assume RACISM. You know when you assume you make an A** out of U and ME. I dont care if they are black white purple mexican, pick the best thats it. EX.Just like the services in the US, they group each test taker by there ethnicity and race. Whites go here, blacks, mexicans and so on. Then they take the top test from each group, although it wont matter if the highest black scored lower then the lowest mexican, they pick one from each because they dont want to be seen as racist. Well F YOU! Pick the best, if its all blacks I dont care as long as you pick the appropriate and the best person for the job fine by me.

DAMN Racism its just as bad as fanboys here on N4G

[Saaking]

I have nothing against gay as long as they don't try hitting on you or something. It's just disturbing and tbh disgusting.

But anyways, I agree. These people should lean to take a joke. It seem that if you make a joke about homosexual or anyone from a different ethnicity other than white you're automatically racist.

I hate rap and people call me racist? I mean wtf? The insecurity is too high with this people.

[jadenkorri]

the world we live in...

saying something gets blown out of proportion by anti- name it groups.

Healthy active people are last to get a flu shot, specifically the H1N1, from a virus that could potentially kill you.

Fat over weight people are first in line or more priority than a person who exercises and lives a healthy lifestyle for the H1N1 flu shot...Like cmon, i can understand children, older people going first, or someone who has a condition that puts him/her at more risk...

[kaveti6616]

Some people get offended and some people don't. Next time you hear someone complaining about offensive material, try to see what kind of people they are. Not that they're bad, but some people are kind of prudish about everything.

It doesn't mean that we should all run everything by these people to make sure they approve. That's bull.

[Jerk120]

Some people are so whiny.

Keep these guys off my Xbox360.

[cyborg6971]

For a sexual orientation that deems sodomy as pleasure these sure are sensitive people.

[BX81]

LMAO! That is too true. People complain about too much these days. Don't ask don't tell is something we joked about all the time in the Army. It's true to the military culture. Why are they playing MW2 if they're such babies. They should go play one of those facebook games.

[Panthers]

LOL Good point. +bub

[r0s3b0wl23]

Hahaha, good point. It is a statistical fact that homosexuals engage in aggressive forms of sex, continue to be promiscuous even though painful diseases are a given, they statistically have ingested feces and urine, and the list goes on... yet they cry like babies when someone makes a simple joke about them. It's no coincidence, these people are not hurt, they are just trying to manipulate the politicians, interest groups, and the law so that they benefit.

This is what modern liberalism has done to the world. And they are out to turn your children into one of their minions as well: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[cfilla2]

It's pretty easy to tell someone to take a joke when you've never faced persecution in your life. There's a reason people don't say the N word anymore. It's hateful and ignorant. Would you be telling black people to just take the joke if the main character was black and the guy said "Hey man you still eat watermelons all the time?" or some other racial stereotype. Using the term gay to imply offense to someone implies that the state of being gay is that of a lower class citizen.

[JimmyHACK]

They stopped, damn I must have missed that.

[BldyShdw]

I would laugh my ass off if they actually said that about the watermelons. Maybe im not sensitive enough to others feelings. I'm not racist either some of my closest friends are black. In school we would play basketball and the black guys would be like "naw he cant play hes white" did i cry about it? hell no i laughed :)

[Pennywise]

Everyone is too damn sensitive. Being politically correct is becoming way too much of a pain to even pay attention. I wish everyone would just pay attention to themselves and quit pestering me about what I shouldn't say, or shouldn't do.

BTW - I have a black buddy of mine that buys watermelon every single day. He wouldn't be offended about you asking him about it.

[toaster]

Nothing wrong with that. What does it have to do with the army?

[BIGBUTTER]

Glad I didn't hear those comments. wouldn't want to Barf all over the floor. SICKOS

[Droid Control]

always b!tching about every little thing - just like girls!

Man up b!tches!

[SSCOOLCHEA]

I had to laugh at that one....Does that sign say GOD MADE HIM GAY ? LMAO......God try to turn him into a fruit instead they got a halfman .

[cfilla2]

jmare

Wikipedia cites sources. Here is one.

http://apahelpcenter.org/ar...

Now I knew it might be really hard for you to look for that all by yourself, so I saved you the trouble by linking you to wikipedia, which sums up the scientific consensus on the topic of the article.

I could keep going with links to scientific journals, but I'm sure, in your infinite wisdom, would dismiss all of them because "I just found that stuff on the internet". Well guess what? Scientists publish scientific journals on this wonderful tool we have now for sharing information, called the internet. Online source does not equal unreliable. You can say whatever you want about me but I'm not the one disagreeing with the aggregate of the nation's psychiatrists, psychologists, and other experts just for the sake of defending an opinion I formed before (gasp!) studying the subject. If you can find any sort of reputable, peer reviewed study that provides convincing evidence against my argument, post them. I'll gladly give them a look. Until then, do your homework before you start spewing nonesense.

I'm afraid I can't stay much longer, must resume studying for my final in molecular genetics.

[jmare]

Do you not get the fact that Wikipedia is not a viable source? I do not know of a single college or university that accepts Wikipedia as a viable source of research. It might be fine in some high schools, which is what you sound like: a high school student, but in the real world, Wikipedia is recognized as a joke because there is no standard of accountability with regards to the information in the entries,

There is no such thing as a consensus in science. There is only fact. If 99 people say X and 1 person says Y and it's Y, the 1 is correct and the others are wrong. I have no interest in finding an unbiased study of homosexuality because there are none. If the scientists conducting the study agree with homosexuality the study reflects the bias and vice versa. The studies I have seen in favor of being born gay are conducted and/or sponsored by gay people. What a shock. And good luck with your "molecular genetics" final.

Also, it's not because people disagree with you it's because you either ran out of bubbles or you got banned to the open zone. It's most likely because you ran out of bubbles. Educate yourself on the comment system before ranting like a douche.

[The Hillman]

You know what, this is still news due to the age of the videogames industry.

If an actor uses a racial, homophobic, xenophobic remark in a film and it's in keeping with their character or the narrative which is trying to be told, no fuss is made.

Videogames should be no different in the sense that as long as the remark is not gratuitous it should be fine.

The fact is that whilst it isn't right; racism, homophobia and xenophobia all exist in our society on a day to day basis. Without it being addressed in an adult and sensible fashion it will always remain.

[iceman06]

Because video games are still in their infancy,in comparison to other forms of entertainment, people are still learning how to add content in a responsible manner. This particular usage was not the most offensive, but coupled with their prior PSA for grenade spamming, you had to know that somebody would have the fine-toothed comb at the ready.

[cfilla2]

It seems Im not allowed to comment on gamer zone on this thread anymore because too many people "disagree" with me.

[mistajeff]

Is it okay if it's the frat-boy-ish actually-gay-but-pretending-to -be-afraid-of-it type of homophobia? I had Bowling pinned the first time I saw a video interview...

[helmie83]

i dont know why we should bother with this claim..
if u r gay and hate being teased,it's simple..
don't play this game..it*s so easy

[Stedron]

To all the F@gs out there...STFU

[TheMailman]

Gay people, straight people... who cares??? let´s play together...

Ups!!!

[bjornbear]

if anything, its cool they include the possibility of an NPC (or is it main char) to be homosexual =)

[JeffGUNZ]

Most gay people love gay humor. It's the idiots how make rights movements that make a big deal. You play that for any gay person, I bet a majority of them would laugh.

[SpinalRemains138]

Gay is a homophobic term? People who say gay are scared of homosexuals? What is happening to this world? Guys joke about gayness because it's funny. We laugh at gay people because to a straight man, calling your buddy gay is FUNNY! Does it have to be in a game? No. Did the game use the term "fa$g*t" or "co%$K sucker"? No. Gay people should be glad they got a mention in the fastest selling title of all time. Walk it off gay people. Nothing to see here.

[BX81]

Gays are the last thing anyone is scared of. LOL! Be happy they got a mention in the game. True as hell. It's not like they were talking trash about pole smokers. I bet when 2 gay guys are at home they joke about banging chicks then go ewww! People are always looking for a reason to think some one is hating on them.

[andyrew007]

you know the reason why its only just been noticed? Because its such a tiny part of the game that no one even noticed it. I honestly can't understand how someone could take offence at this

[andyrew007]

I just thought of something else to add to my previous comment. I'd bet anyone that if this was on a game that was unknown to most people no one would even have mentioned it. Its just because its on such a well known game, these gay rights people just want a bit of publicity.

I could go on for a lot longer because I have some other points but I really can't be bothered

[evilmonkey501]

Since when do gay people care about this crap? Everybody talks crap about everybody. No one is immune. Get over it, thicken your skin and stop caring so much what other people think of you. If it really bothers you that much...move to hollyweird. You'll get over it real quick...even my gay friends call each other gay...

[leftbehindxp]

Dude exactly! I bet the majority of gays wouldn't give a crap about this. Besides, that remark is part of the military culture (though whether I agree to it is a different story).

[leftbehindxp]

I just hope people know that not all gay's take this so seriously as others. Hell, the website doesn't even give you who is complaining and for all that I know that may include straight people.

[Hypnotic]

How is that video homophobic?

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Looks like a bunch of people trying to complain to me.

[Odion]

Guys I am going to ask that you refrain from turning this into any kind of debate, or a venue to express your views about the validity of being gay or your religious opinions.

Try to stay respectful and on topic.

[Rowsdower]

a bunch of sweaty guys in close quarters cleaning and maintaining their phallic symbols for the hopes of one day taking down the enemy with a spray of bullets and rockets.

nope nothing homoerotic about that.

[iceman06]

That was pretty funny!

[DanSolo]

Damn, look at all those deleted comments!!!
A sad sad day for free speech!

It seems if you hold politically correct views then you have the right to rabidly demand your right to air your views whilst simultaneously shouting down any opposing view and denouncing it as prejudiced.
But if you dare hold a view that doesn't conform to the newspeak then you are subject to censor and a possible barrage of righteous and indignant abuse!

Oh the irony!

[ps34ever]

Gays need to go to hell

[cyborg6971]

Sorry to burst your bubble but there is no hell to go to. And some in here are just furthering the guise of race creed and gay haters the media alreay views us as. So bravo to you closed minded homophobic douche bags.

[itsralf]

bubble for cyborg6971

[Alcohog]

Its a reference to the movie "Airplane!"...and its hilarious.

[r0s3b0wl23]

More cry baby pro gay retards. So what else is new?

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Wow are the mods trying to censor or what.

[iceman06]

Maybe to keep the offensive comments to a minimum. My comment was NOT offensive at all. Just a reply to some of the most offensive and blatantly racist language that I have heard on this site. Oh well...

[madpuppy]

If you hate gays you are a hateful person but, you are not a racist...

[SolidSystem]

I have no idea what the mods are doing. i didnt see anything offensive in my comments, i do agree that many things posted in response to mine showed people being ignorant... i would love an explanation.

[vickers500]

Yeah, this is probably one of the most censored comments sections on n4g (at least that I have seen so far).

Did you guys use any derogatory (against gays) language?

[KillerPwned]

Yeah man never seen so many comments deleted in my life. Personally i dont think that short little thing in the game is no where near offensive. Hey its true dont ask dont tell and activision wanted to aim for a more in deepth real FPS. The gay pride or w/e they are i guess cant seem to understand that. But it seems there the group that takes anything offensive.

You always got the cool people that w/e they are and there are jokes about it they just laugh but then you got those people you say one little thing and they will blow up on you.

[Droid Control]

true, the homos stole the word and twisted it into something dirty, but i don't see how calling someone happy is offensive to anyone.

stupid homos,first they pervert nature, then they pervery the english language, now they try and pervert their own cuture...

Where will it end?

[Somnipotent]

gay gamers need to loosen up a bit. it's almost as bad as that blogger chick who claimed resident evil 5 was racist because it was a white dood killing black doods. i'm sure worse things are said IRL and i'm sure worse things are said over XBL. give me a break.

[krisq]

I'm gonna go and play with my Wang...

...in Tekken 6 :P

[teto83]

the gay man will get to experiment the joy of alimony payments.....you were warned. LMAO

[Lord2008]

i was not affended, in fact i thought it was funny, it seems to me that only straight men who are intrested in this story?

[cfilla2]

@jmare- If you had any formal science education you would know that the first thing you are told is that science does not prove things. Hypotheses are set up to be disproved. Experimentation is used to disprove each hypothesis until a hypothesis is unable to be disproven. If this hypothesis continues to remain undisproven, it is generally considered the "best explanation" we have. Gravity is still a theory, but it is treated as fact because there hasn't been the occurrence of throwing a ball into the air and it not coming back down. If I can get anything across to you it is that, regardless of specific disagreements about homosexuality. If 99 percent of scientists have experimented and produced studies that lean toward a specific explanation of a phenomenon, that is what is called the scientific consensus. If the one percent is actually "right", as you say, the problem is then with the experimentation methods, which are constantly improving.

So it is definitely possible that the one percent can turn out to be right, but it would also result in that one percent becoming the 99 percent, if the 1 percent is scientifically "true". Generally even the 1 percent do not hide their methods from the scientific community. So if they made some breakthrough in some type of knowledge or experimentation method, every other scientist in the field should be able to repeat their studies with similar results.

According to you, if a study finds that homosexuality is a naturally occurring phenomenon, it is biased toward homosexuality. I could make the same claim about anti-homosexuality studies. If this is the way truth was obtained, our scientific progress would be lacking.

Basically if you are a logical person, there is no reason to believe the one percent of the scientific community unless it is YOU that has some type of bias, or you have some type of perfect study that you havent revealed to anybody.

ps- I am truly sorry I made claims without familiarizing myself with the commenting system here.

[r0s3b0wl23]

Dogs humping stuffed animals and random objects is also a naturally occurring phenomenon but that doesn't mean you can make the claim that humans who hump trees are normal. This is a fallacious argument pro-gay propagandists get away with constantly.

[jmare]

You completely missed the point. Scientific consensus is bullshit. Need proof? The earth is not flat, it is also not the center of the universe, and gravity exists. All of those are examples of scientific consensus.

I brought up the bias in the studies because of all of the recent studies I have heard of, all were sponsored by gay advocacy groups. I would think that the recent Global Warming debacle would help illustrate that scientists are not above political games. Also, the bias is inherent because of the nature of soft sciences. You can conduct experiments in identical manners and still come up with different results. This is due to the fact that human behavior is far too complex to understand in the context of these experiments.

And yes you could make the same claim of bias, except most people who aren't gay have no interest in finding out why people are gay.

If you were a logical person you would not believe any scientific study unless you conducted it yourself. People make mistakes and there have been numerous times when the scientific community was proven incorrect.

The point remains that there has been no conclusive evidence that gay people are born gay, just like there has not been any conclusive evidence that gay people choose to be that way. The pro-gay community relies on rhetoric and weak analogies.

Also, nitpicking over "science does not prove things, it disproves hypotheses" is a weak move. You still understood the point even if it was technically inaccurate. The message is the same.

[madpuppy]

I did NOT put anything in my post that would be considered offensive or off topic.

If the moderators are so darn afraid of discussion that is of a mature nature, they should ban the Article that was posted altogether!!

man up MODS! or remove the articles that cause controversy!!!

[exnihilonihilfit]

Gay people aren't upset because they mention being gay. The real problem is Don't Ask, Don't Tell. DADT is a discriminatory policy that gay men and women in the military actively struggle with all of the time, its unfair, unprofessional, and most other countries don't subscribe to it, yet IW's use of it here seems to condone it by making light of it. If he asked the question "you still black?" and then said "hey man, no interracial mixing, ha ha!" people would be pissed off. The first question, in the right context, not entirely offensive (though a very weird question), but the second part clearly indicates that you have a problem with black people. Now this could be IW just trying to be honest to the character, but that character isn't really developed so it's very hard to believe that. At the end of the day, this is so minor, I don't think very many gay people care. The game already sold millions of copies, and the vast majority of its consumers are probably homophobes anyway. This article doesn't even really mention a bunch of protests or rallies or boycott's. Though the title is rather sensationalist, it's reasonable that a few gay people would be a little upset that IW inserted this into the game, especially in light of the Fight Against Grenade Spam, but this isn't going to be on the evening news.

[karan8624]

Wow, thats really gay

...see what I did there?

[Morsambulant]

If there are worried this much about what is being said in a game and really does this kind of crap, picketing and whatnot, then thats the true meaning of gay, to like man enough to take a game seriously for sexual slur. I guess they love GTA4 ballad of gay tony huh? its a game people.

p.s im sorry for the controller joysticks

lol that was a left over joke.

[Kakihara]

I'm all for gay rights and have in the past argued against the dumb adolescent ignorant homophobia rampant on this site but c'mon, this is ridiculous. The game is about the modern military, the modern military is full of lunkheaded homophobes. I didn't buy this because I have no interest in simulating that dumb macho world but dammit, if there's going to be a simulation of that kind of thing on the market they have the right to make it accurate.

"Excuse me my dear chap, are we going to be fighting any terrorists today?"

"Oh no my good sir, fighting is wrong. Besides which we don't call them terrorists any more. Those fine fellows are now to be known as the Democratically challenged."

"Right you are. Hey ho I'm off to pick daisies and stand holding hands in a circle of people from all walks of life singing the hits of Sonny and Cher".

[SprSynJn]

I wasn't aware that men who have interest in women and, therefore, have no interest in other men are now called "homophobes" for doing what comes natural. Interesting way you guys spin things these days.

[BubloZX]

I don't see a problem with that comment in the game. Big deal I make black jokes and asian jokes all the time!!! and guess what I'm both!!!

Seriously gay people need to learn to laugh at themselves every once in a while. Beside if you don't like it when people make comments like this then don't be gay. Get a girl or something jeez!!!!

[Official General]

@ BubloZX, you wrote,

"Beside if you don't like it when people make comments like this then don't be gay. Get a girl or something jeez!!!!"

Sh*t I had to laugh that one man! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA LOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!

[BubloZX]

hate gay people....bunch of whiny whores!!!!

[Another One]

So how is that hurtful in any way? The word gay was used and the gay rights group goes ape sh!t. Get a grip folks, it's a word, learn not to take things so damn seriously.

[SprSynJn]

Nope, I did not know who he was. Still cannot say I care really, but it was a sad crime I will admit that. So are the other thousands committed daily to the rest of us, however. Nothing special about him from my point of view. By the way, why not make Adam Lambert your spokesman. Sounds like a winner to me.

http://www.washingtonpost.c...

[SprSynJn]

Don't call me "my dear." You are in no way on an intimate level enough to use that towards me. Protesting for reasons as you had mentioned are not nearly as important as others such as Animal Testing or Global Warming killing off the Polar Bears. Whether or not you want to believe the truth that you are a miniscule part of society is entirely up to you. That truth stands, as Tron below has stated, "trying to make an abnormal thing normal." Hopefully you will realize this in time. Just be lucky that there are many who cave in to people like you, and hope that it lasts.

And by the way, you do not know me nor are you even qualified enough to assume who I am. I stay away from what I do not like, I do not try and get rid of it. I am not justifying what those men did, at all. I am saying that for you to assume people like them are simply going to roll over for people like you is more ignorant than they are. You have no right, pure and simple.

[Tron_Rocks]

I don't pretend to be PC. To be gay is immoral, and you hear them gripe and complain in every facet of society, trying to make an abnormal thing normal. It never has been, it never will be.

[JeepGamer]

...And get over it.

We're way past the point where people are OBSESSED with finding things to complain about in MW2. At this point it's like listening to somebody complain until you're tired of it and as you start to walk away they dive forward to grab you by the ankle insisting that you continue to listen to their whining and justify it by agreeing with them.

I'm sorry if the game didn't live up to what you want and if it's bugging you that much then the ripoff artists over at Gamestop would be more than happy to take it off your hands.

[ps34ever]

There is heaven and hell and gays are going to hell.