For that matter, I tend to agree with those who say that the flag was probably used to mock the character that was wearing it and was likely seen as more of a symbol of his stupidity than anything else. I don’t think that the GTA: Vice City intended to glorify the Confederate flag. With all that out of the way, I have to say that I have absolutely no problem with this change. On that note, I highly recommend reading these articles from The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, and National Geographic if you’re looking for additional information regarding why the Confederate flag is such a controversial symbol. As such, some are arguing that the use of the Confederate flag in this instance is meant to mock the flag and its association with dangerous idiots such as Cassidy rather than somehow endorse the imagery or the acts of terrorism and racism the flag is associated with. We should also point out that Phil Cassidy is, to put it mildly, a dangerous idiot whose worldviews and actions are often representative of his dangerous idiocy. For instance, we know Apple has gone back and forth over banning gaming apps that feature the Confederate flag, and Twitch implemented a Confederate flag ban (in certain contexts) last year. On that topic, I should mention that it’s entirely possible that this removal has as much to do with platform restrictions as it does with Rockstar’s preferences. For instance, they recently removed a Confederate flag prominently featured in one of GTA 5‘s trailer parks, though some fans noticed that other appearances of that design remained in the game at that time for reasons that were seemingly never made entirely clear. Given that Rockstar changed that element of the character’s appearance in subsequent releases, that would seem to suggest that they may have simply changed their mind regarding this design decision years ago.įor that matter, this isn’t the first time that Rockstar has removed references to the Confederate flag in a GTA game. Gamers are debating whether or not the GTA games are being “censored” after Kotaku and others noticed that Phil Cassidy no longer wears a shirt with the Confederate flag on it in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition‘s remastered version of GTA: Vice City.īefore we dive into the heart of this topic, there are a few things you should probably know about the context of this change.įirst off, Cassidy appears in a few GTA games, and Vice City is the only one in which he’s seen wearing a Confederate flag shirt.