Boston Mayor: GTA Subway Ads "Hiding Behind First Amendment"

November 24, 2006

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is not pleased with the refusal of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority to remove ads for GTA Vice City Stories from its subway cars.

As reported by the Boston Herald, Menino accused the agency and its head, Daniel Grabauskas, of "hiding behind the First Amendment." The mayor said:

These ads are outrageous. The MBTA is a public entity and has a responsibility to protect the public from being bombarded by violent images.

To hide behind the First Amendment is despicable. We are talking about games that promote killing prostitutes, shooting police officers. So what if the ACLU is going to get mad? The MBTA is a public entity and the public is my first concern.

Menino was among those who signed a letter to the transit authority recently, demanding removal of the ads. Grabauskas told the Herald the MBTA has no legal authority to regulate ad content and pointed out that the agency spent over a million dollars in legal fees a few years ago in a failed attempt to block ads promoting a change in marijuana laws. The MBTA boss said:

As offensive as I, or any MBTA person, may find this particular game, we do not have the legal authority to remove it. The content on whatever is being advertised, whether it be a video game, a movie, a music album, a Web site, is not something we are allowed to be concerned about.

Posted in

Comments

Submitted by Gray17 (not verified) on Fri, 11/24/2006 - 20:57.

Personally, I got to give Mr. Grabauskas a lot of points on this one. Is he doing this to back videogames, and fight censorship? No. Is he doing this because it's the sane thing to do? Yes.

The MBTA has a contract to run the ads. Pulling them would be both illegal, and a breach of contract. Mr. Grabauskas and his staff considered the issue when it came up and went "Can we legally pull this? No. Will attempting to do so anyways, just because we or others might find them offensive, waste money? Yes. Answer don't pull them." And Mr. Grabauskas further realized that this was just a bunch of scapegoating and political maneuvering, and as such tossed some barbs of his own back point out some the hypocracy.

It's refreshing in any context to see someone doing what is legal and reasonable and standing up for that, instead of falling in with the knee jerk crowd rather than make waves.

Submitted by BearDogg-X (not verified) on Fri, 11/24/2006 - 21:17.

The mayor of Boston is nothing more than a crybaby.

How pathetic.

Submitted by CyberSkull (not verified) on Sat, 11/25/2006 - 06:05.

If it wasn't for the first amendment, he would not be able to complain about the first amendment.

Submitted by Terminator44 (not verified) on Sat, 11/25/2006 - 09:03.

@Cyberskull

Actually, if there was no Constitution, then these politicians could do whatever the hell the want, because they would be above the law. That's why politicians like Menino hate the Bill of Rights. It was designed to make sure that they work FOR the people, not the other way around.

Submitted by Tyetheczar (not verified) on Sun, 11/26/2006 - 20:37.

@bissel:
Now THAT's what I'm talking about. Good way to give them the barebones facts oy! GREAT EFFORT!

Submitted by illira kallo (not verified) on Tue, 11/28/2006 - 17:26.

Hiding behind the first amendment? You mean people shouldn't do that? I'm sorry, could someone please explain to me why we have a first amendment if we're not supposed to use it.

Submitted by 6db68f2ebbbf (not verified) on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 07:02.

6db68f2ebbbf...

6db68f2ebbbf13209111...

Shout box

BearDogg-X: @PHX Corp: It's like they're just throwing crap at the wall to see what sticks at this point.05/20/2013 - 12:15pm

Kajex: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/05/20/neverwinter-money-making-exploit-sees-cryptic-turn-back-time/ My understanding is that none of this was illegal, either.05/20/2013 - 11:42am

PHX Corp: http://www.gamezone.com/news/2013/05/20/violent-video-games-are-bad-for-your-body Most rediclous Study about violent video games ever05/20/2013 - 10:13am

Cecil475: @PHX Corp - The dude's a moron who wouldn't know crap if it came up and kicked him.05/19/2013 - 6:36am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/ea-sports-developer-calls-wii-u-crap-and-nintendo-wa-508481261 EA Sports Canada Moron calls Wii U 'Crap' and Nintendo 'Walking Dead'05/18/2013 - 11:42am

E. Zachary Knight: If the videos are of sufficient quality that people subscribe and watch regularly, then those let's players are providing a service that people want. That is the heart of capitalism. That is not something that should be shamed.05/17/2013 - 8:06am

E. Zachary Knight: I have no idea who either of those people are. However, I still don't see why making a business out of creating let's play videos is somehow evil or wrong.05/17/2013 - 8:04am

MaskedPixelante: It sure is if you're just doing it for the money. See Tobuscus and/or Pewdiepie for what happens when people get into it just for the money.05/17/2013 - 7:30am

E. Zachary Knight: Why is it wrong to make money doing LPs? Why should that be something that should be shamed?05/17/2013 - 6:20am

MaskedPixelante: https://twitter.com/PsychedelicSA/status/335183893214924801 Now here's an interesting, glass half full thought about the Nintendo LP thing. It outs the people who are just doing LPs to make money.05/17/2013 - 5:56am

E. Zachary Knight: I responded in writing to all this "let's play" stuff Nintendo Started. No need for my permission, I won't give it. It's not mine to give. http://divineknightgaming.com/?p=29205/16/2013 - 2:21pm

E. Zachary Knight: Lars Doucet of Levelup Labs has a Reddit going on game companies that allow monetization of Let's Play videos. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1egayn/lets_build_a_list_of_game_studios_that_allow/05/16/2013 - 1:04pm

Sleaker: @Imautobot - yah I wouldn't use an emulator as a good first run test of how stable the console is, haha.05/16/2013 - 11:47am

E. Zachary Knight: The 50th person to jump off a bridge is just as dumb if not dumber than the 1st.05/16/2013 - 10:03am

MaskedPixelante: Yeah, let's all jump on Nintendo for doing this, even though they're hardly the first company to do this...05/16/2013 - 9:47am

E. Zachary Knight: Wow Nintendo, this is wrong. http://kotaku.com/nintendo-forcing-ads-on-some-youtube-lets-play-video-50709238305/16/2013 - 8:44am

Imautobot: @Sleaker, further gameplay has revealed that the controller button do stick under the faceplate. Also, The NES emulator (Emuya)keeps crashing on me, though I think a bad ROM is causing it.05/16/2013 - 7:10am

Papa Midnight: AE: I wonder if any other publishers will follow suit.05/15/2013 - 8:12pm

Andrew Eisen: EA is ditching Online Pass. http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/15/ea-kills-its-controversial-online-pass-program/05/15/2013 - 7:20pm

Avalongod: @Zach and quicnkold...I've read the bill and the intent of it is to fear-monger. It's not a balanced message. I don't recall the ESRB being mentioned at all. It's more "keeps your kids away from these movies/games or they'll become violent"05/15/2013 - 4:35pm

All shouts

<< Return To Top

Forgot your password?
Username :
Password :