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Nintendo Quickly Removes ‘F*** Israel’ Graffiti From Splatoon 2

Graffiti featuring the term ‘F*** Israel’ was spotted in Splatoon 2. Nintendo has removed it and apologized.
by Luke Luby on June 08, 2021   

There are few games that people could claim were political. The Metal Gear series is of the largest franchises to deal with political issues. Six Days In Fallujah is another notable title to be released relatively recently that has a political bent. Both game and franchise have dealth with their controversies over it. One game that players wouldn't expect to rank among these would be Splatoon 2. That'd be the case, however, as Nintendo has had to remove some political messaging, which read ‘F*** Israel,' from the game.

The message appeared in an Inklings mode, with the full text being perfectly visible. Naturally, parents and gamers were quick to wonder why such a phrase would appear in what's supposed to be a children's game. Once made aware of the incident, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) promptly contacted the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and Nintendo’s legal counsel.

Demands were made that the ‘F*** Israel’ graffiti be removed from Splatoon 2 as quickly as possible. It's worth noting, however, that the ESRB doesn't rate online games. That's because they continually change, which makes keeping ratings accurate quite difficult. Having said that, it's unclear if someone at Nintendo put the graffiti there or any online user, which is a distinct possibility.

It's certainly more likely that a player put the graffiti there, as players can add cosmetic features around the map. It's unclear how long the graffiti was actually up, however. For its part, the company has apologized. Through its representative, Rob Posgate, Legal Counsel to Nintendo UK, the company said:

We can assure you that the anti-Israel graffiti that the child saw was not generated by Nintendo as part of the design of the game, Splatoon 2. We strongly condemn such statements, and the sentiments behind them.

Whether or not the incident puts a dent in Nintendo's typically family-friendly image remains to be seen.

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