Update: The ESA has reached out to clarify how "Canada" made it into a list of banned words on the E3 portal. Its statement reads, "The team working on the E3 portal and app used a sampling of words that came from a third party software company only for the purpose of functionality testing on the portal. This is not the final list, only a test list. The primary goal of curating this final list is to ensure the moderation functionality is being properly implemented to create a safe environment for all users."
We have updated the headline to reflect the ESA's plans to curate the list of moderated words.
Original story:
A list of words that are reportedly banned from the messaging function of E3 2021's online portal and virtual booths has been leaked. The list contains many words that are generally offensive or of a sexual nature. There are also some words that are not necessarily offensive on their own, but may be utilized in such a way. However, some of the words being banned may come as a surprise to many, especially the apparent banning of the term "Canada."
The words contained on the banned list, which was posted over on Resetera, are organized by the subject in which they refer to. The JavaScript file that was leaked included groups like "Religion" and "Political" and included terms under each like "christ", "OMG", "trump train", and "democratic socialism." Then there are some groups like "Geography" and the simply-labeled "???" where those terms that may have people scratching their heads reside. Under "Geography" there are only two banned words; "Canada" and "Canadian." While the group "???" contains another two head-scratching terms; "toe jam" and "women rapping."
This leaked list has left many wondering why the country of Canada has become a banned word by the folks at E3. A little digging has pointed many in the direction of a post on boingboing that breaks down the sudden rise in racial connotations connected to the term Canada. The post discusses an article in the Canadian National Post that looks into how many white racists are adopting seemingly harmless terms to make racist comments in public or unnoticed. The article highlights the experience of a blogger in Cincinnati whose black friend kept remarking on how the customers in her Southeastern American store kept referring to her as "Canadian":
"She told me a story of when she was working in a shop in the South and she overheard some of her customers complaining that they were always waited on by a Canadian at that place. She didn't understand what they were talking about and assumed they must be talking about someone else...After this happened several times with different patrons, she mentioned it to one of her co-workers. He told her that 'Canadian' was the new derogatory term that racist Southerners were using."
If this is indeed true, then it makes sense for E3 to try and stay on top of potential racism or hate speech during the upcoming virtual event. Especially considering the recent crackdown the video game industry has seen on racism and harassment by large companies and titles. As for why "toe jam" and "women rapping" are being banned, that is a complete mystery and one that may remain hidden for a while as E3 recently password-protected the Java Script file containing the words.
You can catch this year's all-virtual E3 when it kicks off June 12!