A video game about resisting authority in a dystopian future reportedly stated it will purge a voice actress for questioning transgender ideology.
“Ubisoft has announced that they will be removing the guest appearance of a real-world journalist from Watch Dogs: Legion following accusations from fans that she holds transphobic beliefs,” Bounding into Comics reported back on November 9. The removal of Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis’s voice-acting debut has made headlines as a textbook example of “Cancel Culture.” Fox News host Tucker Carlson commented on Tuesday's show that Ubisoft had “erased her from the picture, as the Soviets once did.”
A Ubisoft spokesperson responded to inquiry from gaming journalism website Kotaku by explaining that Ubisoft was “not aware of the controversy at the time of booking or recording.” The spokesperson further asserted that the “collaboration itself may be seen as offensive and we deeply regret any hurt this has caused.” In response, Ubisoft took drastic action: “we will be replacing these two podcast episodes in an upcoming update and will reinforce our background checks for partners in the future.”
Lewis’s role in “Watch Dogs: Legion” was the in-game host of the fictional “Buccaneer Podcast,” which reportedly touted itself as “your source for what they don’t want you to know.” Bounding Into Comics explained that while “her in-game discussions are in no way related to transgender issues,” some fans were outraged by her skepticism towards transgender politics:
“In 2017, after former UK Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn called for changes to be made to the government’s Gender Recognition Act, as at the time it did ‘not allow trans people to self-identify their gender’ but did ‘[force] them to undergo invasive medical tests,’ Lewis shared her concerns regarding what she saw as a ‘radical rewriting of our understanding of identity."
One quote in particular that may have stoked the ire of transgender activists showed that common sense itself is now seen as grossly offensive.
“'Being a woman or a man is now entirely in your head,' wrote Lewis. 'In this climate, who would challenge someone with a beard exposing their penis in a women’s changing room?'"
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your local representative and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
