Game based on slain US teen sparks outrage, pulled from app stores

A smartphone game called “Angry Trayvon” became a source of outrage for social media users owing to the usage of the name of a teenager who was killed last year. The negative backlash, which involved multiple tweets, posts and a petition, resulted in the game being removed today, according to a post on Facebook.

In February of 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman after an altercation, which drew a lot of international media attention. The case came under fire because of alleged racial profiling, with speculation being made that the act was conducted purposely because Martin was black.

Fast forward to December of the same year, which saw Android and iOS app developer Trade Digital releasing “Angry Trayvon” around Christmas time. The game first came on the Google Play Store on July 1, 2013.  The game revolves around a hooded character bearing the first name of the slain teen, who is a man on a “world tour of revenge on the bad guys who terrorise cities everyday.”

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Angry Trayvon game draws social media outrage, is taken down

While the name of the game seemed controversial, the game developers tweeted that it “was not intended to portray any people in real life.” However, the game featured the main character wearing a hooded sweatshirt, which is similar to the clothes that Martin was wearing at the time of his death.

The game was soon released for Android and iOS devices, although it is still not clear if the actual app ever appeared on the Apple App Store. Soon after the release, there was a great deal of agitation on the Internet about this issue. A Change.org petition was seen demanding the removal of the game. Yesterday, a post on Tumblr gathered more than 1500 responses within hours, with the majorities being in favour of removing the app.

Twitter too has done its part, with hundreds of tweets or retweets demanding the game’s removal being posted on the social networking site. Users also battered the game’s listing on the Google Play Store, burying it with hundreds of negative reviews after the social media campaign. According to Neowin, the game, before it was pulled, had a score of 1.4 based on 714 reviews, out of which 625 reviews gave the game the lowest possible score.

Now a post on the “Angry Trayvon” Facebook page has confirmed that the game has been removed from the Google Play Store, though a listing of the game states that it is still available for download. In the post, Trade Digital defended its stance by saying that the game was purely made for entertainment and was not cashing in on the slain teenager’s case. The post read: “The people spoke out therefore this game was removed from the app stores. Sorry for the inconvenience as this was just an action game for entertainment. This was by no means a racist game. Nonetheless, it was removed as will this page and anything associated with the game.”