Sony fires Ghost of Yotei artist, allegedly over Charlie Kirk joke

A senior artist on Ghost of Yotei has been fired, reportedly following a joke they made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

As reported by Kotaku, Drew Harrison, a senior staff character lookdev and texture artist at Sucker Punch Productions, was allegedly fired less than 24 hours after making a joke on X regarding the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025.

In a now-deleted series of tweets, Harrison, a ten-year veteran of Sucker Punch Productions, claimed that she had been subject to a harassment campaign that included multiple anonymous phone calls following the post, with X users, such as Mark “Grummz” Kern, calling for a boycott of Ghost of Yotei and for Harrison to be let go from the studio.

On September 12, Harrison reported on X that she’d been fired.

“If standing up against fascism is what cost me my dream job I held for 10 years, I would do it again 100x stronger,” Harrison wrote.

Sony confirmed in an email statement to Kotaku that it had parted ways with the artist.

“Drew Harrison is no longer an employee of Sucker Punch Productions,” a spokesperson from Sony Interactive Entertainment told the publication.

On September 16, 2025, Sucker Punch Productions posted a new Ghost of Yotei trailer on X, which has seen numerous replies calling for a boycott of the game and multiple users posting “RIP Charlie Kirk.”

Sony and Sucker Punch Productions are not the only game companies facing pressure to dismiss employees over posts regarding Charlie Kirk’s death.

Square Enix, Warhammer/Games Workshop, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard are among others facing backlash from some on social media.

In response to a thread listing Activision Blizzard employees who have been “trashing Charlie Kirk,” X owner Elon Musk tagged Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a post on September 12, 2025, asking, “What’s going on here?”

Later that same day, Microsoft posted the following from its official X account:

“We’re aware of the views expressed by a small subset of our employees regarding recent events. We take matters like this very seriously, and we are currently reviewing each individual situation. Comments celebrating violence against anyone are unacceptable and do not align with our values.”

GamesIndustry.biz has contacted Sony for comment on this story.