Just when you thought the EA/Take-Two buyout saga couldn't get any more interesting, one of the game industry's favorite people to hate, attorney Jack Thompson, has reared his head and sent a letter to EA CEO John Riccitiello at the EA shareholder site. The publisher has provided a few media outlets, including GameDaily BIZ, with the full letter and their response.
In his letter, Thompson indicates that he wants to aid in the acquisition of Take-Two so that Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick can be "evicted." He says that Zelnick is an "ideologue whose weird views, wedded to a rapacious corporate raider greed, ill-serve us Take-Two shareholders."
EA naturally declined the offer from Thompson. You can read the letter and EA's response below.
March 1, 2008
John Riccitiello, CEO and
Entire Board of Directors
Electronic Arts
209 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065 and via e-mail to StockholderCommunications@EA.com
Re: EA's Proposed Purchase of Take-Two Interactive Software
Dear Mr. Riccitiello and Other Directors on the EA Board:
I write you about the above-captioned matter not only as a long-time shareholder of Take-Two but as its most visible, most abiding, and most successful critic. You can, for example, view my 60 Minutes expose' about Take-Two's reckless corporate activities at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml.
I also worked with Senator Hillary Clinton, at her request, in July 2005 and helped her prove that Take-Two had knowingly and illegally embedded the "Hot Coffee mod" in GTA: SA.
Unfortunately, there is something else embedded at Take-Two: Strauss Zelnick.
I met with Zelnick last May in a Central Park West condominium, and what Zelnick did in that meeting was explain to me how he would use Take-Two to continue to market and sell its adult video game products to children. He also threatened and promised that he would continue to "wage war" against me or anyone who opposed this sale of adult products to children. After the meeting, he then went ahead and made good on that promise. It was quite a remarkable moment in my life and one which Zelnick undoubtedly regrets. He should. Take-Two shareholders don't know about it, however.
I proposed to Zelnick a simple, elegant means by which Take-Two can avoid all legal consequences for what has been its illegal marketing and sale of adult games like Manhunt 2 and GTA: IV to minors. Such a simple, painless measure by Take-Two would actually increase corporate profits as well as get state and federal legislators off the backs not only of Take-Two but also of the entire video game industry. Zelnick does not want Take-Two out of harm's way. He relishes his role as the marketer of filth to children. He said he was the guy who did just that when he was in the rap music biz. I know a bit about that, as is was amicus curiae in the 2 Live Crew federal obscenity case that resulted in the first verdict in history that a sound recording was obscene.
At our May meeting I warned Zelnick that the not yet released Manhunt 2 would prove to be a problem for the company. Strauss just laughed. He's not laughing now.
Strauss Zelnick is not a "Boy Scout" as he actually hilariously described himself in The Wall Street Journal this week at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120406249877894565.html?mod=googlenews_wsj.
Strauss Zelnick is a "Boy Scout" like Jeffrey Dahmer was a gourmet cook. Zelnick proved that with his Take-Two golden parachute scam.
Zelnick in fact is an ideologue whose weird views, wedded to a rapacious corporate raider greed, ill-serve us Take-Two shareholders. When Zelnick told the BBC that Manhunt 2 is "fine art" we all knew that we were dealing with an oddball.
I am delighted to work with Electronic Arts to evict the Zelnick Trojan Horse from within Take-Two's corporate walls. In doing so, I can get the new Take-Two into the clear as to the trouble I and others can send its way.
Zelnick is the source of trouble headed Take-Two's way, not I, and EA can make the case, with my help, that such trouble can be avoided.
Regards, Jack Thompson
And here is EA's answer to Thompson:
Mr. Thompson,
We have received your letter to EA's shareholder site. In response to your offer to assist in the proposed acquisition of Take-Two, we would strongly prefer that you not get involved in this matter. EA is a strong supporter of creative freedom for game developers. We feel that your past statements – including false claims about content in our games – make any collaboration with you impossible.
Sincerely,
Mariam Sughayer
Sr. Manager Corporate Communications
Electronic Arts, Inc.
