Forza 2 revs up the anti-semitism; Mercedes 300SL promotes the Reich’s agenda

Hi. My name is Nex and I’m culturally insensitive.

I often make light of horrible atrocities, and have been known to poke fun at various religions, ethnicities, cultural nuances and, of course, fatties. With such a storied history of offending all people great, small and really fat, it’s little surprise that I was nominated to cover this story, but even more surprising is that upon reading this whole thing, I got a severe sense of revulsion. It’s one thing to spend an entire podcast joking with an Englishman about the horrors of the Reich, but to publicly distribute a vehicle modeled after some alternate-universe Nazi Supercar crosses a line, spits on it, and burns a cross in its front yard.

A Forza 2 player by the nom de video game of Dreamer61 created the stunningly horrific 1957 Mercedes 300SL pictured above. Adorned with slogans of “Heil Hitler” and “White Power”, the car is enough to force one into exile in Argentina, and it has created quite a stir within the XBL community. Even more sad is that the car — the wet dream of Rob Zombie and Adolph Eichmann — would be hailed as a stunning achievement within the ranks of would-be vehicle painters if it weren’t for the unfortunate subject matter.

Obviously, the people behind Forza 2, and Microsoft themselves, do not approve of the content, but one has to wonder what exactly their obligation is herein. As much as the content is terribly offensive, is there an onus on the game’s creators to censor free speech in the event that it offends the views of certain people?