“Halo” co-creator and Master Chief lead designer Marus Lehto has criticised the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s use of the game’s art and lore for its own political purposes and propaganda efforts on social media.
Earlier this week, the White House posted an AI-generated photo on X in which U.S. President Donald Trump was dressed as Master Chief from the “Halo” game series. Then, Homeland’s official account showed a screenshot from the game along with the message “Destroy the Flood – join ICE”.
ICE refers to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, while ‘Flood’ refers to the enemy race in the game – but also has a double meaning in this case, referring to illegal immigration.
Speaking to Game File, Lehto says he found the Halo-themed recruitment post “absolutely abhorrent” and said “it really makes me sick seeing Halo co-opted like this.”
Jaime Griesemer, one of the chief designers on numerous early “Halo” games, told the outlet:
“Using Halo imagery in a call to ‘destroy’ people because of their immigration status goes way too far, and ought to offend every Halo fan, regardless of political orientation. I personally find it despicable. The Flood are evil space zombie parasites and are not an allegory to any group of people.”
Now, journalist Alyssa Mercante has reportedly received a statement from Homeland saying it had no plans to stop co-opting video game imagery to spread its messaging. She posted on Bluesky:
“We will reach people where they are with content they can relate to and understand, whether that be Halo, Pokémon, Lord of the Rings or any other medium. DHS remains laser focused on bringing awareness to the flood of crime that criminal illegal aliens have inflicted on our country. We aren’t slowing down.”
It follows on from last month, when The Pokémon Company officially stated that it did not give permission for the use of the Pokémon anime theme song in another DHS post tied to ICE recruitment.
Microsoft, which has numerous government contracts, has not yet commented. As The Guardian indicates, the video game industry at large has “long remained silent” when it comes to the reactionary politics and ideologies within the gaming community.
However, they also add that “the more the administration leans into video game iconography and internet memes, the more video game companies find themselves associated with the divisive and reactionary politics of the right – whether they want it or not”.
Source: VGC
