Controversies Surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV - Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck

On his program, Glenn Beck, a conservative US talk-radio host, used GTA IV as an example to make wider claims about the use of violent video games by the US military, repeating claims made by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman that the US military uses first person shooting games to de-sensitise soldiers to killing.

In the second segment of the show, Beck spoke to Jack Thompson and Gavin McKiernan, national grass roots director for the Parents Television Council. Thompson called the game "a murder simulator" and went on to make unsubstantiated claims about actions that the player could perform in the game. McKiernan added "This is really an adult product we're talking about" and went on to claim that research into media violence had shown the potential effect violent media could have on children. He went on to claim that there was a definite difference between violence in movies and violence in video games. Thompson said the game should be rated Adults Only, saying "the sex in the game was taken out so it could even be sold to adults in Australia." Thompson claimed that the ESRB rating for the game was "phoney", to appease large stores that refuse to sell adult rated games.