Upcoming platformer Yooka-Laylee had a cameo in it from popular YouTuber Jon Jafari, aka JonTron. Following a spate of videos and tweets where he expressed far-right views, that cameo is being stripped out in an update.
JonTron had previously stated negative opinions against pro-women sentiments, saying that supporting women was “sexist”.
He’s recently moved onto matters of race, saying in a livestream that America should be predominantly white, and stating that wealthy black people have committed more crime than poor white people, among other things.
It looks like Playtonic want to distance themselves from that with their family-friendly platformer, and who can blame them?
JonTron is founder of channel network Normal Boots, though even his personal channel has over 3 million subscribers.
The YouTuber is a fan of Banjo-Kazooie, so earlier on in development Playtonic invited him to voice a minor character in Yooka-Laylee, a game made by ex-Rare talent and featuring similar symbiotic animals.
“We recently became aware of comments made by voice artist JonTron after development on Yooka-Laylee had been completed,” Playtonic told GamesIndustry.biz in a statement.
“JonTron is a talented video presenter who we were initially, two years ago, happy to include as a voice contributor in our game. However, in light of his recent personal viewpoints we have made the decision to remove JonTron’s inclusion in the game via a forthcoming content update.
“We would like to make absolutely clear that we do not endorse or support JonTron’s personal viewpoints and that, as an external fan contributor, he does not represent Playtonic in any capacity. Playtonic is a studio that celebrates diversity in all forms and strives to make games that everyone can enjoy. As such, we deeply regret any implied association that could make players feel anything but 100% comfortable in our game worlds, or distract from the incredible goodwill and love shown by our fans and Kickstarter backers.”