Just like its underwhelming, Dave Chappelle 4/20 skins, Activision's commitment to inclusivity is half-baked.
It's almost that time of year again, when every corporate entity temporarily gives its logo a rainbow makeover and publicly reaffirms its commitment to inclusivity. But before we get to Pride Month, we have to get through 4/20, which Call of Duty is celebrating with a pair of skins depicting Thurgood Jenkins, the fictional character from 1998's Half Baked, played by comedian and noted transphobe Dave Chappelle.
"There's something going on at Frankencense & Burr Pharmaceutical, and Thurgood Jenkins is right in the middle of it," reads a recent Activision blog post announcing the upcoming collaboration. "The master of custodial arts takes his chance to have some fun and save a friend, memorialized in this Bundle inspired by the 1998 hit comedy, Half Baked."
I'm old enough to remember the days when Chappelle was known for being funny rather than being a bigot. I grew up watching Chappelle's Show, and like many comedy fans, genuinely enjoyed the guy's work until he started making unfunny jokes about the LGBTQ+ community, with a large amount of vitriol aimed at the trans community and female sexual assault victims specifically.
Every year in June, Call of Duty celebrates Pride Month. In 2021, Activision added eight new Pride flag Calling Cards to Warzone, and last year, it was a free camo pack. I'm sure Warzone and Black Ops 7 will add a new set of rainbow cosmetics this year, too. But it's hard to take Activision's alleged support of its LGBTQ+ playerbase seriously when it's celebrating 4/20 by celebrating the legacy of a transphobe.
GameSpot reached out to Activision for comment regarding the Chappelle skins, but did not receive a response.
I recently wrote about a study that revealed something most of us are already aware of: Despite making up 48% of players, female gamers are underserved by the industry, with the biggest barriers to entry being:
It's no secret that the Call of Duty franchise doesn't exactly have a pristine reputation when it comes to player behavior. A 2024 study revealed that Call of Duty has the most toxic player community across all platforms, with 45% of players saying they encounter toxic in-game behavior frequently, and only 2% saying they never encounter it. In college, my peers and I jokingly referred to the franchise as "Slurs with Friends," and true enough, the 2024 study cites intense aggression via voice chat as one of the franchise's biggest toxic traits.
As a bisexual woman, the addition of Dave Chappelle skins for 4/20 reads as a poorly disguised attempt to let the Call of Duty playerbase know that, although Activision will continue to virtue signal with Pride Month celebrations, the game is still a place where you and your (straight, male, cisgendered) buddies can squad up, chug soda, and call everyone you encounter a gendered slur with little repercussion. As for LGBTQ+ players like myself? Well, I guess we should sit down, shut up, and be grateful for our free rainbow skins.
I've heard plenty of funny "gay jokes" in my lifetime, but most of them come from LGBTQ+ folks themselves, not straight guys punching down while performing at a state-sponsored Saudi Arabian comedy festival because they've run out of both material and money. (Interestingly, comedians who attended the aforementioned festival--including Chappelle--were reportedly forbidden from making any jokes about the Saudi Arabian government, the royal family, or religion.)
I'm a fan of "420 humor," too, and I enjoyed watching Half Baked in my teens. But what's most mind-boggling to me about this whole situation is that the addition of the two Dave Chappelle skins is the only way Call of Duty is celebrating 4/20 this year, and I am far from the only person who finds this both baffling and disappointing.
"We know a lot of players enjoy them, but we've scaled back the 4/20 celebrations this year to a single bundle for fans of the Half Baked movie," Activision shared via a post on the official Call of Duty X account. "No events or LTMs this time."
Seriously? You couldn't do another Cheech & Chong skin pack? A Grandma's Boy or Towelie collab? Turn Nuketown back into Smoketown like in last year's massive 4/20 celebration? You're telling me that all you've got to offer your stoners is a pair of skins glorifying a singular, unfunny transphobe? Really?
As a 420-friendly bisexual, I'm disappointed. The Dave Chappelle skins aren't just harmful to the franchise's LGBTQ+ community--they're a lazy, uncreative, half-baked attempt at profiting off of Call of Duty's stoner fanbase, too.
