Those Meddling Kids! Warner Bros. Game Bows to Woke Backlash

Jason Cohen | September 13, 2022
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According to some MultiVersus players, it is offensive for a white female videogame character to call the police on a black male video game character. Fans complained about this feature of the new online fighting game where they have access to numerous well-known characters in the Warner Bros. Discovery catalog. Examples are Velma Dinkley from “Scooby-Doo” and LeBron James from “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” 

In the game, Velma is a sleuth who can collect evidence, hold up a wanted poster, and then call the police on her opponent. It would seem that since she has proven probable cause, calling the police is warranted, but fans were triggered nonetheless, calling Velma a “Karen.” 

“Karen” is a pejorative term for racist white women who use their privilege to humiliate black men. In this case, Velma calling the police on LeBron James evoked the slur from players. 

This is an utterly absurd example of wokeness going too far and people being primed to see racism everywhere. Due to the media’s obsessive coverage of police use of force, Americans greatly overestimate how common it is. Perhaps that is what led to this innocuous game feature receiving such backlash. 

Despite how dumb this critique is, Warner Bros. actually gave in to it, updating the game. Now instead of alerting the police, Velma calls the Mystery Inc. gang and the Mystery Machine. This is a change from decades of calling the police on the bad guy. 

The update received both praise and criticism. 

While this is just a videogame, it is concerning to contemplate how trends like this can bleed into real life. One example that has already occurred is not stating the race of violent crime suspects. 

Related: Government Funded Paper Claims Science Is Racist

Racism is evil and sensitivity about it is important, but taken to this extreme, it is dangerous. If massive corporations and news outlets are bending to pressure so easily and unnecessarily for fear of being perceived as racist, there will be severe unintended consequences. 

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