On July 4, video game studio Epic Games made the bizarre decision to host an in-game Black Lives Matter panel called “We the People,” in which players of the ultra-popular battle royale game Fortnite would be forced to watch CNN commentator Van Jones, rappers “Killer Mike” and “Lil Baby”, and other BLM activists pontificate about left-wing race politics on massive in-game projection screens.
The Fortnite playerbase, which primarily consists of adolescent children, did not display the reaction to the profoundly tone-deaf in-game event that Epic Games and partner Opus Studious were hoping for.
Van Jones’ stern visage on the in-game projection screens was unceremoniously pelted with tomatoes from nearby vending machines, which supplied an infinite stock of the digital vegetables. The other lecturers were met with similar treatment over the course of the nearly hour-long event, which was then looped for 24 hours in every single game server.
they put a BLM video in fortnite
and players started throwing tomatoes at the screen because a vending machine was right next to it
with infinite tomatoes pic.twitter.com/mtw0Vsmm37
— Brick (@FemBoy_Lover_69) July 4, 2020
— KANYE 2020 (@undulum_) July 4, 2020
Is it me or does that seem like Fortnite laid some bait? I imagine some journalist is creaming themselves as they write about how racist gamers are for throwing fruit at the screen… https://t.co/ZMY7dMgax6
— Sophia (Gladiator) Narwitz (@SophNar0747) July 4, 2020
Some Black Lives Matter supporters accused Epic Games of deliberately placing tomato vending machines next to the in-game projection screens as an act of covert white supremacy, though no evidence whatsoever has been provided to validate those claims.
In June, Epic Games removed police cars from Fortnite to mourn the death of George Floyd.
