The UK division of Kotaku has apologized after publishing an article about Joker titled “Super Smash Brother’s Ultimate’s Persona 5 Includes a Disability Slur.” In it, the writer claims that the lyrics used in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s version of “Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There” from Persona 5 used the word “Retarded.”
“if you skip to around 1:48 into the track, you’ll reach a section of the song where words are softly spoken rather than sung,” claims writer/News Editor Laura Kate Dale. “At around 1:58 it appears the term ‘retarded’ is used and followed up by the assertion that ‘I can say it.’ The official lyrics for the song, curiously enough, does not include this spoken word section.”
Many fans were quick to point out that the word in question wasn’t the word “retarded”, but instead the words “retort it.” After the backlash, Kotaku released the following statement on Twitter:
“A lot of Persona fans are insisting the lyrics are ‘retort it’ or ‘ritardendo’ (a musical term). We’ve listened again and still don’t hear it that way, but thought we’d update to allow that there may be an innocent explanation and we’re simply dealing with an unfortunate sound-alike. We have asked various companies involved with Persona for clarification on these lyrics, and will of course update again with any reply.”
However, as of this writing, the update has not appeared on the article. After further criticism from fans, as well as from the English voices of Ann (Erika Halacher) and Futaba (Erica Linebeck), Kotaku UK released an apology for the Joker slur article titled “We Screwed Up With That Persona Lyric.“
The site’s editor, Rich Staton, released the following:
“We contacted Atlus and Nintendo for comment before publication. But we published the article before a response was received and, as the subsequent fallout has shown, that was a mistake. I’m the editor of the site and, ultimately, that means this error was down to me and me alone. . . But we accept that this article was a mistake. Publish in haste, as they say, and repent at leisure. We would like to apologise to Atlus, Nintendo, and the many Persona fans who were angry about this piece. It looks like we got it wrong. We screwed up: sorry.”
Staton also received confirmation from Nintendo (who also confirmed with Atlus) that the word used in the song is not “retarded.” Laura Kate Dale has also issued an apology on Twitter
I'm still not sure what the lyric says. Our mistake was to put the article live in a form where it sounded certain of our interpretation, when we should've waited for comment back, and tailored the piece to reflect peoples' confusion rather than being definitive about it.
— Laura Kate Dale (@LaurakBuzz) April 19, 2019
Kotaku is retarded
Doesn’t matter still fu** kotaku
Infantile
Really? An entire ‘news’ article over the word: retard? F***ing shite is humanity these days.
AGK
I know I care about these things. If that actually WAS what Lyn said (spoiler alert: it wasn’t), I’d be extremely disappointed. But it wasn’t…
Entitledshunnub
Cow-taco should compensate both Nintendo and sega/atlus for this and at the very least a writer and editor should loose their jobs over this
Jason
Holy ***t, Kotaku, NOBODY CARES WHAT IT SAYS! STFU with your fake outrage!
SMC77
This is an ‘interesting’ apology. Whenever they come close to saying ‘sorry for being douches and potentially edging upon racism’ they try to turn it back on the singer.
“The official lyrics for the song, curiously enough, does not include this spoken word section.”
Yet as many fans have pointed out, there’s many sites you can go to which do infact show the lyrics in question.
“We’ve listened again and still don’t hear it that way”
Feels over facts, it’s the Kotaku way. Why let facts get in the way of a good accusation.
“Publish in haste, as they say, and repent at leisure. We would like to apologise to Atlus, Nintendo, and the many Persona fans who were angry about this piece. It looks like we got it wrong. We screwed up: sorry.””
What a trite, condescending way to say “We allowed a staff member to rush ahead and publish something which was racially derogatory, it should never have made it to publication without proper research and for that, we’re sorry”.
What a bunch of insipid twats they are.