Take-Two’s ‘Kill Haitians’ game:
The Haitian group suing Take-Two Interactive Software because they say Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City instructs players to "kill the Haitians" and awards points for each kill, plan to refile the suit in state court.
Representing the Haitian group, lawyer Barry Silver, "said he wanted to argue the case under Florida law, which he said had more restrictions on freedom of speech than federal law," says an Associated Press report here.
"New York-based Rockstar Games has agreed to remove the offensive language from future versions of the award-winning video that has sold 11 million copies," it adds.
"The manufacturer of the game, in which an ex-convict is hired to recover stolen drug money in the streets of Miami, has been harshly criticized for its portrayal of Haitians."
Take-Two was founded in 1993, "by a young fellow named Ryan Brant, who was apparently raised in a family steeped in its own Vice City values. Ryan’s daddy, Peter, a polo-playing fop from Greenwich, Conn., did time in federal prison for tax fraud after trying to write off $1.5 million worth of massages, jewelry, scalp rubs and what-not as business expenses," we quote the New York Post’s Christopher Byron as saying here, going on:
"Last spring, Dad was hit with more tax woes when federal prosecutors filed a suit against him and his partner – art dealer Larry Gagosian – alleging that they owe $26 million in taxes on fine art sales dating back to 1990. Dad was an original investor in Master Ryan’s excellent adventure, and currently collects $474,000 per year from the company in return for leasing it some of the New York real estate he owns. That lease is set to expire in the new year.
"THE Securities and Exchange Commission got interested in Take-Two last year after the company restated its financial results for most of the previous two years. The restatement followed reports that the company had been claiming revenues from fictitious sales."
