Jack Thompson is hot for Bully, again @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on October 30, 2006

News: Thompson warns retailers that "gay sex" is harmful to minors.

Jack Thompson won't back down from Bully. After being slapped down several weeks ago by a Florida judge when he tried to stop the game's release, Jack has now decided to target the game's "gay sex".

Thompson sent the following email to Take Two's CEO Paul Eiberler:

Re: Gay Sex in Bully Video Game; Retail Sale of Sexual Material Harmful to Minors

It turns out that the school violence simulation game Bully also contains homosexual activity between the game's hero, Jimmy Hopkins, and other male students.

It is my legal opinion that the sale of this game to minors, which is presently occurring at your stores in Florida, violates Florida's "Sexual Material Harmful to Minors Statute," Florida Statute 847.102. Each such sale to a minor constitutes a separate felony. Such sales are occurring to children of all ages because of the game's wholly inappropriate "Teen" rating, as opposed to the "Mature" rating it deserves. A recent Reuters story indicates that parental concern about this is growing, as reportage of this new video game industry scandal is making headlines today around the world.

I already have pending a Florida lawsuit to stop the sale of Bully to minors, and now that we know that it contains not only high levels of unpunished violence but also homosexual acts the lawsuit will be amended to proceed against it and some of you who are defendants therein on these dual grounds.

I suggest strongly that all of you cease and desist all such sales in the United States immediately. Neither the game's maker, Take-Two, nor the Entertainment Software Rating Board, told you of this homosexual content, which constitutes a fraudulent and deceptive trade practice, in my opinion, on their parts, and I have alerted the Federal Trade Commission to this.

However, now each of you knows, and from now on, from this minute forward, you are all on the hook.

Bear in mind that...

1. There is no "gay sex" in Bully. The main character, Jimmy Hopkins, can kiss other male students. He can also kiss female students. Neither event is pre-determined, it's up to the player to decide who to smooch and when.

2. The ESRB has already confirmed they were shown the "homosexual content" of Bully before the game's release and it is already factored in to the Teen rating.

3. This bears repeating: There is no "gay sex" in Bully!

We'll have more on the Bully controversy as it develops.