Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don’t know), is Chairman of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., whose most popular video games are the Grand Theft Auto murder simulator games banned in some countries but sold to children here.

April 21, 2008

Mrs. Zelnick
Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Chairman’s Mother
New York, New York Via e-mails to intermediaries

Re: Your Son, Strauss Zelnick

Dear Mrs. Zelnick:

Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don’t know), is Chairman of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., whose most popular video games are the Grand Theft Auto murder simulator games banned in some countries but sold to children here.

Your son last week was reported to have said the following about Grand Theft Auto IV, due to be released Tuesday, April 29:
“We’ve already received numerous [GTA IV] reviews, and to a one, they are perfect scores. My mom couldn’t write better reviews…”
Taking your son’s thought, I would encourage you either to play this game or have an adroit video gamer play it for you. Some of the latter gamers are on death row, so try to find one out in the civilian population who hasn’t killed someone yet.

What you will see in your son’s game, if this iteration of GTA is anything like its predecessors, is incredible interactive violence aimed at police officers (whom you can shoot in the head and see the blood spray), innocent bystanders (whom you can run over with your car just for the heck of it), and of course the plentiful female prostitutes you can have *** with and then filet with a knife or stomp with your feet in order to get your money back. Experts note that the recent plethora of cop killings is caused in part by your darling son’s entrepreneurial energy. There are three policemen dead in Alabama because of Grand Theft Auto. I was on 60 Minutes about it. I hope Strauss has provided you with a flat screen tv to see the grief of the bereaved families that fills the screen.

The pornography and violence that your son trafficks in is the kind of stuff that most mothers would be ashamed to see their son putting into the hands of other mothers’ children, but, hey, your son Strauss has recently assured the world that he is “a Boy Scout, everybody knows that.” I’d love to see the merit badges that Scout Troop handed out. Is there a Ted Bundy merit badge? If so, your loving son deserves one now. It should be red and green, for obvious reasons.

With Passover having just come and gone, it is appropriate to note the following from the Old Testament, Proverbs 22:6:

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Mrs. Zelnick, did you train up your son, Strauss, to make millions of dollars by pushing Mature-rated video games to children? Any kid can go right to little Strauss’ corporate web site and buy GTA IV with no age verification. Strauss is even marketing the new Grand Theft Auto IV on World Wrestling Entertainment tv shows seen by millions of kids. If you trained up Strauss to do this, then shame on you.

But maybe the explanation for your son’s corporate sociopathy is to be found in Old Testament Proverb 29:15:

“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”

Maybe you, Mrs. Zelnick, were so taken by your handsome son that you spared the rod and spoiled the child. That would explain why he has brought you, by the way he presently acts, “to shame.”

There’s another mother you would do well to talk to. Mrs. Crump in Alabama had a son who was a police officer. He’s now dead because a teenaged boy unwittingly trained himself to kill him on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. She has a grief she carries every day that only a mother can know.There are other such mothers in the heartland of America whose inhabitants your son simply sees as commercial targets.

Your son, this very moment, is doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be “a Boy Scout.” More like the Hitler Youth, I would say.
Happy Mother’s day, Mrs. Zelnick, which this year is May 11, two weeks after your son unleashes porn and violence upon other mothers’ boys. I’m sure you’re very proud.

Sincerely, Jack Thompson
Copies: Media

Don't you just love this guy? According to JT playing gta will give you a one way pass to the SS.. humm



He sure loves this quote, i have seen it many times.. Must think its a sure way to get some sympathy on his side, if this is indeed true then i agree its a terrible thing but i don't get the feeling he cares at all about mrs crump and is only quoting this for his own defence

What sort of guy goes to a man mother to slag him off though?

Rasta writes...

The sort of man that doesn't realise that Strauss Zelnick is not infact peddling this game to children. The only way this game would end up in an impressionable childs hands is if their parents decide to go out and buy the game for them. That would be the parent's fault for not adhering to the Age ratings. They are there for a reason.
I suppose writing letters to all those parents that buy the game for their precious ones would require strong wrists on the behalf of JT, a tall order for even the monumental tosser himself, so he took the easy route and launched an unnecessary attack on Mrs. Zelnick.

I eagerly await Mrs. Zelnick's reply to Mrs. Thompson, something about moral decency and hypocrisy I can only presume.

I just cracked myself reading this line



so basicly source of all violence = Videogames , but yet millions of kids watch wrestling ?? totally with you there jack ... videogames are bad, wrestling on TV where a couple of dudes pretend to be killing eachother bearhanded is harmless (sarcasm for those who didn't know by now) ... problem starts with the parents and the way theyy raise their children... maybe we a s a community should write a letter to Mrs. Thompson telling her to give little Jacky a big Buttwipe for all the harm he has done videogames

Meh maybe we should tell her all the slander her son does for his daily life. And how she must be a bad parent for allowing him to tell lies . . . I mean its only fair lol.

He really needs to go to his history books, violence has been around for a very very very long time.

On another note I agree with Carcass, the main way for a kid to get a game rated for older people is to have the parents obtain it. Jack needs to stop harassing game companies and go to the source of the problem, parents not concerned with what their kids see or play.

The stuff that JT rants about is some of the biggest bullocks i've ever seen. I agree with all the above posts, we should send a letter to his mother saying how much hurt he's causing millions of employees of Take-Two and its subsidairies.

I don't know what other parents out there think of the situation but i just wouldn't allow my child to get his mits on any source of entertainment out of there age zone, some people think its out of the parents control but thats just no excuse.

You wouldn't expect a young kid to go hang out in a strip club so why should they be alowed to play adult games? The anwser is simply bad parenting, don't get me wrong i am no fan of Jack, personally i despise the man but instead of targeting companies, maybe rules should be more strict for parents who buy it for minors?

Just so you know this is not rasta but his misses.

I couldn't resist putting this together for everyone.