Jack Thompson Tattletales to Strauss Zelnick’s Mommy
By Ron on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 PM PST In Computer, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Games Industry, Grand Theft Auto, Microsoft, Rockstar, Sony, Take-Two
Boy, just when you think you’ve heard the last of Jack Thompson, he resurfaces in his most ridiculous stunt yet. Did he bomb a truckload of of Grand Theft Auto IV game discs and blame violent games? Nope, it’s even better than that. He decided the best way to chastise Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was to……………….TELL HIS MOMMY ON HIM.
That’s right folks. In his quest to somehow make his viewpoint on violent games relevant, Wacky Jacky has finally regressed to the third grade. In a letter that he himself posted in a comment thread on Kotaku, Wacky Jacky implied that Zelnick’s mother might not realize that her son was the CEO of Take Two, quoted scripture at her as a way to impune her efforts at raising young Strauss, and stated openly that Zelnick should be awarded a “Ted Bundy merit badge” (this last is a reference to a statement Mr. Zelnick made recently, where he stated that he was “a Boy Scout”).
Now, it’s not that we shouldn’t expect these type of shenanigans from Wacky Jacky. He’s proven time and time again that he’ll go to great lengths to try and bring the general public down to his level of idiocy. What’s surprising is the myriad number of ways in which he manages to do so. Just when you think he can’t possibly get any worse, he goes and does it just to spite you.
He continues to cling to the notion that Take Two selling GTA IV through their website is somehow “targeting minors” with the sale of the game. However, federal law has long held that a credit card may be used as a standard for age verification, and a quick visit to Rockstar Warehouse shows that a credit card is indeed required to purchase there. So where’s the issue?
It’s the same old, same old. I suppose we should all be used to it by now. As long as there’s a venue for his sermonizing, Wacky Jacky will be a fixture on the fringes of the gaming industry. Gamers don’t take him seriously, and neither should anyone else. Especially Strauss Zelnick’s mother.
If you’d like to read the entire letter, it’s available right after the break.
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146April 21, 2008
Mrs. Zelnick
Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Chairman’s Mother
New York, New York Via e-mails to intermediariesRe: 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 sex 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
My favorite line: “and of course the plentiful female prostitutes you can have sex with and then filet with a knife”
Now THAT should be on the fact sheets.
“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.”
I am insulted and mortified that this insect would have the audacity to suggest that I will eventually murder someone someday because I have played GTA games. As a matter of fact, I have played ALL GTA games and plan on playing the new one. Murder has never crossed my mind. This is because I am a rational human being with a conscience who would never intentionally insult, belittle, harass or insinuate something that is blatantly untrue just to get attention.
Too bad the same cannot be said for Thompson.
wow, i would file a lawsuit if I were that woman
Apparently he is assuming that Mr Zelnicks mother is an idiot and doesn`t know what her own son does for a living or with his life.Way to go BOZO!!!I think Wacky Jacky needs to find a new career.He evidently doesn`t know the law well enough to know how the system works when selling goods to minors.Repeat after me Mr Thompson,”I am an idiot,I am an idiot,I am an idiot.”Oh ya,don`t forget,you are an idiot!!
I heard a rumor that in GTA IV there is a special unlockable prostitute skin of Jack Thompson in drag, he’ll give it to you for $5 (some times when he is really desperate he will offer to pay you for it or visit the Liberty City Zoo for some animal action)
Must Fillet Hookers with my knife And shoot cops in the head so I can see there blood…. Wacky Jacky Your a Tool
P.S. Jack please don’t Tell My Mom I don’t want to be sent to my room for the night.
He reeeaaalllyyy needs to get laid
This man is truly pathetic.
Wow, I seriously know what goes on in Jack’s head, I mean, what kind of guy would try to get attention by mailing a letter to the CEO saying: “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” Who insults a mother, wanting to stop the sale of GTAIV? And another thing: I have not killed anyone! And besides, my parents know what I play, I play these games prectically in my parents faces! The thought of murdering a cop or innocent people has never crossed my head! I’ve been playing violent games since i was 9! I’ve played numerous killing games, and then some. So, good night, Jack Thompson, keep dreaming that you’re ever gonna stop the sale of violent games to minors.
ok, how is this not some legal form of harassment at this point?
After reading that letter the first thing I thought to myself was “What a dick.”
Someone should write HIS mother a letter. Wouldn’t that be ironic?
oh, the possibilities…
@Commander
That’s actually not a bad idea.
JT is such a tool. I think he knows it too. He’s probably at home laughing at all of us counting his cash.
Why do people keep reporting on this guy? He’s like the flame-baiter in a forum that no one can resist replying to. As long as sites keep reporting on his antics, he’ll keep doing them, it’s free publicity for his cause. Just ignore him already.
Some of those death row people are avid movie watchers! We should get rid of all of those R rated movies!
It is interesting to note that Jack Thompson owns Take Two stock. Maybe he does all this stuff as publicity to boost sales, thus raising the price of his stock, thus making more money? Nah he’s probably not that clever. I hope he gets disbarred so all his credibility is finally gone and (hopefully) people out there will stop listening to him.
Still doesn’t it seem hypocritical to own stock in a company you sue and send nasty letters to the CEO’s mom?
crazy, i didnt even read this article. because anything on Jack Thompson you know what its about, the Antichrist for video games… games are the problem with kids today etc……. why bother.
Silence! I’ll kill you
LOOOOOOOOL
For some time Jack Thompson’s acts were just funny. But this guy has recently really exaggerated – no mother should be mixed in anything like this.
I hope Jack stays in his position for a long time to come. He does much more damage to himself and his cause than he ever could do to the gaming industry. I find articles about him hilarious, and hope there are many more to come! I just hope a competent lawyer doesn’t take his place anytime soon. Then there may be something to worry about.
0wn3d
Let me ask one thing.. You are saying that the source of this is “[...]a comment thread on Kotaku[...]“?
Please come back when you have a real source on this. I could post as Jack Thompson at Kotaku, or as you may notice, here… Not that I believe that Thompson couldn’t do something like this, but I’m also intelligent and critical to see that a comment on Kotaku don’t mean shit.
(As not to remain anonymous, as I hate those Comments, I go by the nick NossCire)
@NossCire: Normally, I’d agree with you. However, as anyone who has seen Jack’s antics before knows, he has a tendency to post these letters he addresses to Take Two, their attorneys, and various and sundry other places in comments exactly like this. It’s part of his self-aggrandizing promotional campaign.
Again, the only reason I lend credence to this is that it fits Thompson’s Modus Operandi so well. Plus, it reads so similar to other diatribes he’s made public in a similar fashion.
I think he’s alien paid by government.
I don’t know how people like him survived early stages of evolution
But maybe someone here is right… he’s now counting his $$$ at home and don’t give a f*ck 
ale ciota gdybym ja co? takiego dosta? tobym mu wykurwi? w ryj
Ja to kiedys kupie miniguna i wyrzne mu w ryj
Speak english
They said that they would like to hit Mr.Thompson straight in face, nothing worth attention.
full of agression reply and bad words. Maybe, there is some truth in Jacky’s fuckin’?
whom you can shoot in the head and see the blood spray
whom you can run over with your car just for the heck of it
you can have sex with
You can, not you have to.
HAHA ! This letter is well funny
I think I’m going to play some GTA and listen to my favourite Death Metal band Behemoth 
Anyone wants to go and kill someone ?
Such an asshole
MORE games like GTA!
Whos want to kill some “bad” guys?
Mr Thompson,
I saw in the Bible a jealous guy killing his brother. I require your help. The Bible should be banned because my fragile mind will be tempted to reproduce the scene.
What a dork !
Mr Thompson, that’s impossible, how strange you are
. Somebody should write a letter to your mom telling her about you! I’ ll give you one advice: leave computer games alone…
Ty anus, sam jeste? ?pik!
ahahahahahaha
idiots!! i like GTA store! 
