GTA Trilogy removes reference to Confederate flag

It looks like Rockstar has removed references to the Confederate flag in the upcoming GTA Trilogy remaster.

As noted by Kotaku, the newest trailer for the trilogy shows recurring character Phil Cassidy—a drunken arms dealer and Grade A idiot—no longer sporting a t-shirt with the Confederate flag. Instead, it's changed to a skull and yellow banner. It's a real 'blink and you'll miss it' moment if you're only casually watching the trailer, but you can catch it at around 34 seconds. 

Rockstar hasn't addressed the change publicly yet, nor has it responded to our request for comment. It's unclear if references to the flag have been entirely removed from the trilogy or whether it's a visual tweak for the trailer only. 

This isn't the first time that Rockstar has removed the flag—which has long served as a symbol of Southern slavery—from its games. GTA 5 saw the removal of a flag from one of its trailer parks, though the symbol remained elsewhere in the game. In more recent memory, Twitch introduced guidelines at the end of 2020 which banned the display of the Confederate flag because of its "historic and symbolic association with slavery and white supremacist groups."

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.