WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Muslim Advocates and Muslim.co launched a petition asking Sony, Microsoft and Valve not to sell the video game Six Days in Fallujah, a first-person shooter taking place during the Second Battle of Fallujah in Iraq. The game primarily depicts the experiences of U.S. Marines during a battle that resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths. The following is a statement from Muslim Advocates Public Advocacy Director Scott Simpson:

“The Second Battle of Fallujah claimed the lives of hundreds of Iraqi civilians, as well as hundreds of U.S., British and Iraqi troops. Turning their deaths into a game is wrong. The game’s original publisher declined to sell it over ten years ago because it was wrong then. It is still wrong today. 

This game risks turning into a biased, ham-fisted propaganda tool that amplifies anti-Muslim and anti-Arab stereotypes and justifies violence against these communities. The people of Fallujah are not targets or props. These are real families in real communities.

The video game industry has a long history of treating Muslims and Arabs as one-dimensional terrorist stereotypes that must be gunned down by heroic troops or as agency-less props who live and die to highlight the service and struggle of foreign soldiers. Six Days in Fallujah furthers those dangerous tropes and trivializes a very real tragedy. Like before, this game should not be sold. Sony, Microsoft and Valve should abandon this game and examine the processes that led to their wrong-headed decision to support it.”

• Read and sign the petition

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Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks. We ensure that American Muslims have a seat at the table with expert representation so that all Americans may live free from hate and discrimination.