I’m very much in two minds over this one. Actually, three minds because right off the bat I don’t care who Aaron Hernandez is and I’ve never gotten into the Madden or NCAA titles so it doesn’t really affect me.
But this just feels wrong.
A bit of history, Aaron Hernandez is a 23 year old American NFL player who earns over $500 000 a year throwing around a piece of dead pig and smashing into people. By all accounts he was a great, hard-working player with a fantastic future ahead of him but for some reason that hasn’t been totally explained he decided to shoot Odin Lloyd who subsequently died.
All I can find out about the motive is that Aaron didn’t like the guys Odin was hanging out with, with his exact words being:
“he [Mr. Lloyd] was ‘chilling’ with people that he [Mr. Hernandez] had problems with,”
Really? That seems like a seriously tenuous reason to murder someone with 5 shots, execution style. But nevertheless his NFL team, The Patriots, instantly fired the guy and now EA games has decided to remove him from both the upcoming Madden 25 title and NCAA 14 and have his likeness replaced with Alex Smith.
What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Or at least something a little more solid than him executing someone because he didn’t like the guys he was hanging out with?
What do you think, is EA doing the right thing by removing this possible murderer from the game or have The Patriots and EA gone too far by sentencing this guy before he has had his day in court?
Last Updated: July 10, 2013
ElNicko
July 10, 2013 at 14:41
Well Gav , look at it from this perspective.
As a pro football team , would you really want an alleged murderer on your team ?
and by the Patriots dropping him from the team, why should EA keep him in the game considering he is no longer a player in the NFL.
George
July 10, 2013 at 14:47
Wel. Think about it like this. He was fired by the Patriots, so he won’t be playing this season. So doesn’t it make sense that EA removed his likeness from the game? It hasn’t even been released yet… So at least the squads will be more accurate with him not being there. I actually don’t see anything wrong.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 10, 2013 at 14:47
Because if they didn’t let’s be honest, sensationalist media would then point at EA and go “See! They do advocate violence” or something like that
LordCaptainAwesomeness
July 10, 2013 at 14:50
The Last thing that the worst company in America needs is MORE bad press..
CaptainNemo42
July 10, 2013 at 14:54
Funny, hey actually do something that is morally right, and it’s being questioned.
Trevor Davies
July 10, 2013 at 14:56
I don’t blame his team for firing him, especially if that’s how he’s talking about what happened. NFL is big business & they wouldn’t risk losing cash for this guy. EA removing him from the game after he’s fired is okay with me.
Mathias
July 10, 2013 at 15:15
Rigth now the public eye sees him as guilty. Rigth now he is fired. Bad publicity. And it’s the US….
OVG
July 10, 2013 at 15:26
I am not saying a thing. He might not like my comment and pump 5 rounds in my ass.
Andre116
July 10, 2013 at 19:28
That is what they might do to him in prison now.
Skyblue
July 10, 2013 at 15:29
Maybe his likeness would be better suited to an FPS title? *ducks*
Mark Treloar
July 10, 2013 at 15:40
If they didn’t do it for that the photo of him holding the gun is reason enough. if he was the pinup for GTA it would be acceptable, but that image comes across as irresponsible. When you are using these titles to promote sporting heroes this does not help.
Trevor Davies
July 10, 2013 at 15:59
Nah, it’s ‘murica… he got fired for only having one gun 😉
Harvey P. Cheesewinkle
July 11, 2013 at 21:48
To be honest, I wouldn’t have been surprised if that were the case on the weapons charges alone. He has 5 weapons charges (all felonies), in addition to the 1st degree charge. The Patriots organization doesn’t like having such people on their team, they’ll give people with questionable track records a shot, because it’s a low-risk high reward gamble, and then cut them at the earliest sign that they’re not towing the company line, and their line is typically ‘Team First and do nothing to bring unwanted attention to the team.’
Any kind of deviation from that, will likely get you cut. Alfonso Dennard (Cornerback) on parole for punching a cop days before the NFL draft, was just arrested on suspicion of DUI. I imagine depending on if the allegations are true or not, the Patriots could very well cut him in the coming days as well.
Harvey P. Cheesewinkle
July 10, 2013 at 16:26
Thus the problem with attempting to report on something from so far away.
“On June 14, Lloyd went with Hernandez to the Boston nightclub Rumor. McCauley said Hernandez was upset Lloyd had talked to people there with whom Hernandez had trouble. He did not elaborate.
Two days later, McCauley said, Hernandez texted two unidentified friends and asked them to hurry to Massachusetts from Connecticut. At 9:05 p.m., a few minutes after the first message to his friends, Hernandez texted Lloyd to tell him he wanted to get together, McCauley said.
Later, surveillance footage from Hernandez’s home showed his friends arrive and go inside. Hernandez, holding a gun, then told someone in the house he was upset and couldn’t trust anyone anymore, the prosecutor said.
At 1:12 a.m. June 17, the three left in Hernandez’s rented silver Nissan Altima, McCauley said. Cell towers tracked their movements to a gas station off the highway. There, he said, Hernandez bought blue Bubblicious gum.
At 2:32 a.m., they arrived outside Lloyd’s home in Boston and texted him that they were there. McCauley said Lloyd’s sister saw him get into Hernandez’s car.
From there, surveillance cameras captured images of what the prosecutor said was Hernandez driving the silver Altima through Boston. As they drove back toward North Attleborough, Hernandez told Lloyd he was upset about what happened at the club and didn’t trust him, McCauley said. That was when Lloyd began sending texts to his sister.
Surveillance video showed the car entering the industrial park and at 3:23 a.m. driving down a gravel road near where Lloyd’s body was found. Four minutes later, McCauley said, the car emerged. During that period, employees working an overnight shift nearby heard several gunshots, McCauley said.
McCauley said Lloyd was shot multiple times, including twice from above as he was lying on the ground. He said five .45-caliber casings were found at the scene.
Authorities did not say who fired the shots or identify the two others with Hernandez.
At 3:29 a.m., surveillance at Hernandez’s house showed him arriving, McCauley said.
“The defendant was walking through the house with a gun in his hand. That’s captured on video,” he said.
His friend is also seen holding a gun, and neither weapon has been found, McCauley said.
Then, the surveillance system stopped recording, and footage was missing from the six to eight hours after the slaying, he said.
The afternoon of June 17, the prosecutor said, Hernandez returned the rental car, offering the attendant a piece of blue Bubblicious gum when he dropped it off. While cleaning the car, the attendant found a piece of blue Bubblicious gum and a shell casing, which he threw away. Police later searched the trash bin and found the gum and the casing. The prosecutor said it was tested and matched the casings found where Lloyd was killed.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/aaron-hernandez-murder-charge-texts-video_n_3508836.html
Hernandez just received a 40 million dollar extension last year, from the Patriots. They cut him about 2 hours after his arrest, prior to the murder chargers being filed.
Whether Hernandez pulled the trigger is beside the point, his presence in games currently or soon to be released is a inappropriate. The NFL and NCAA are image companies, and this isn’t something either organization wants to be a part of.
As a fan of the New England Patriots, and a former fan of Hernandez, I can say the evidence they have shown thus far leads me to believe he was there, more documents have come to light that Hernandez admitted pulling the trigger. However, that’s heresay from an ‘associate’ who’s attempting to deal with the prosecutors, and I’m not entirely sure I’d trust his version. But…Hernandez was there, and he put himself in that position. His choice.
I support the Pats on this, and I think the NFL/NCAA’s move was clearly coming. They don’t want faces/names like that on their rosters.
Harvey P. Cheesewinkle
July 10, 2013 at 16:34
Btw, just to add some additional substance, Hernandez is also being sued by another friend named Alexander Bradley (suit filed before the murder charges were levied). Mr. Alexander alleges that Hernandez shot him in the face during a dispute after a night at a strip club in Miami. Bradley allegedly lost an eye as a result.
Now, here’s the strange part. Bradley is seeking ~$100,000 in damages…. Seems to me for the loss of an eye I’d be going a tad higher than 100K for someone who just signed a 40 million extension the previous year.
Oh, and in addition to the Lloyd murder, he’s also being charged with five gun-related charges. As well as being investigated for an unsolved 2012 double-homicide. So, yeah, Hernandez is fucked, he’ll never play football again, and he’s likely going to jail for life.
Andre116
July 10, 2013 at 19:32
I agree with you there. Innocent till proven guilty is besides the point when you are a company who is trying to make money. If there is even a slight chance that people won’t support your title because there is an accused murderer on there, I would have taken him off as well.
But man…that guy is an idiot. All the money in the world and now he is probably going to sit in prison. Should have rather used some of that money on some anger management.
Harvey P Cheesewinkle
July 10, 2013 at 21:36
Well, he’s already gotten 9.25 million of the signing bonus he got from the contract, but the Pats have effectively voided all other payments to him, including the $200,000 workout and roster bonus already fulfilled for this year (tough shit Hernandez).
He’s looking at 2 lawsuits, one that’s clearly going to federal court, and then there’s the far more lucrative civil suit that will follow afterwards. Then he has the lawsuit filed in Florida from Alexander Bradley which will be a civil suit also (I think). Apparently, they never reported the shooting at the time, so the cops were never involved for it to become a civil suit.
Point being, by the end of this, he’s not going to have much left from the legal fees to the civil settlements/awards. They’ll seize all his assets in the process and well, hasta la bye bye. On top of all that, the mandatory sentencing for first degree murder in the State of Massachusetts is life in prison without parole.
With one of his ‘friends’ flipping on him to the cops, and all of the evidence they have presented thus far, there appears to be a very very good chance of conviction here. Unless there’s some kind of OJ Simpson-esque case mismanagement/tampering that happened.
Harvey P. Cheesewinkle
July 10, 2013 at 21:37
2nd paragraphy 2nd to last word should be federal, not civil.
brad coetzee
July 11, 2013 at 09:23
Put it this way. Would you want to be associated with Oscar Pistorius in any way right now? Not a f#@k
Aussious
July 11, 2013 at 20:46
Well atleast he didn’t shoot his girlfriend…
Harvey P Cheesewinkle
July 11, 2013 at 21:38
He’s trying to marry his girlfriend while in prison, reportedly so that she cannot be compelled to testify against him (legally).