Bethesda's Indiana Jones DLC Clip Sparks Controversy in Wake of Charlie Kirk Incident
- Sagar Mankar
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Bethesda has removed a promotional post for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: Order of Giants after it sparked controversy due to its timing with the recent assassination of conservative figure Charlie Kirk.
The post, originally shared on X on September 14, featured Indiana Jones petting a cat and remarking, "You don’t care much about those fascists, do you?" The short clip, captioned "good kitty," was intended as part of Bethesda’s ongoing rollout of DLC-related content.
Since the expansion’s launch on September 4, the studio’s official account has consistently shared similar seven to 15-second snippets to keep fans engaged. However, because the video surfaced just days after Kirk’s fatal shooting on September 10, many online interpreted it as a political statement directed at the Turning Point USA founder.
Some users argued the timing felt intentional, while others believed it was simply an unfortunate coincidence tied to the game’s 1937 setting, when fascist regimes under Hitler and Mussolini were in power.
Former Blizzard producer and outspoken anti-DEI critic Mark Kern, known online as Grummz, criticized Bethesda’s move, writing: “I am being told that Bethesda just panic deleted this post. Do you guys still see it? Don’t let them get away with it. If this was an edgy social media manager, they need to be fired, and a statement issued.”
The controversy deepened when screenshots emerged of a Bethesda producer posting about Kirk’s assassination on Bluesky. Some of the reposted content appeared to mock those mourning Kirk’s death and framed him as an extremist. One post read, “You are under no obligation to mourn the death of people who would’ve celebrated yours.”
While these posts were removed swiftly, Bethesda has not released any official statement addressing the controversy.
A similar incident happened recently when Drew Harrison, a senior developer at Ghost of Yotei Studio, Sucker Punch Productions, mocked Kirk's assassination in her post. Sony responded by terminating her employment.
Given the sensitivity of the situation, Roblox also took down hundreds of insensitive experiences tied to this incident.