Ubisoft Apologizes, Removes Offensive Slur from The Division 2

Using offensive language in a tasteful way can be a challenge, even for professionals. Ubisoft has issued a formal apology for the use of a homophobic slur in a piece of building art in The Division 2.

The issue revolves around a multi-story piece of art on the side of a building. It depicts a police officer pushing a donut into his mouth. On his badge is the ID number "FA6607," which is leetspeak for a common slur (no, we aren't saying it).

"It's been brought to our attention that a piece of street art in Tom Clancy's The Division 2 contained offensive content. We removed the image from the game via a patch on Thursday, April 11. We apologize that this image slipped through our content review processes, and we are currently reviewing them in order to avoid this kind of oversight from occurring in the future."

- Ubisoft

A common community theory is that the art is based on the 1981 music single by Black Flag called Police Story. This image shows the same policeman, but with someone pointing a gun in their mouth as the assailant shouts "Make me come, f****t!" It's quite possible the in-game art was a take on the modern laziness of the police force (thus the donut) and the badge number was a discreet (kinda) homage to that.

Regardless of intent, the idea clearly did not go over well once it was discovered by the public. This should have been caught by their art department before being pushed to production. But Ubisoft didn't mean to offend and has resolved the discrepancy. We can appreciate that.

The only thing left to do now is to wait for internet trolls to enter an angry fuss over its removal.

Header Image Source: Imgur