Drew Harrison #

Introduction #

Drew Harrison is a senior texture artist at Sucker Punch Productions, a video game studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Harrison worked at the studio for almost 10 years before being fired in September 2025 over social media posts joking about the September 10 killing of conservative commentator and far-right activist Charlie Kirk. The posts drew a coordinated harassment campaign against Harrison and, through them, against the studio itself. A Sony spokesperson confirmed to Kotaku that Harrison is no longer employed at Sucker Punch, and in an interview with Game File, studio head Brian Fleming said the facts of the dismissal were accurate, adding that “celebrating or making light of someone’s murder is a deal-breaker for us.”

Background Information #

Public information about Harrison’s background is limited. Harrison had been an artist at Sucker Punch for nearly a decade and worked on the studio’s upcoming title Ghost of Yotei, a 10-year veteran by the time of the dismissal. Sucker Punch Productions is a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. Harrison declined to comment when reached by Game Developer, and no biographical details beyond their work at the studio were published in the available reporting. In the aftermath of the firing, Harrison’s Bluesky profile appears to have been deleted.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Far-right activist Charlie Kirk was killed on September 10, 2025. In the immediate aftermath, Harrison posted on Bluesky: “I hope the shooter’s name is Mario so that Luigi knows his bro got his back.” The joke referenced Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old prime suspect in the December 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a name coincidence that had fueled jokes and memes for months.

The post quickly became part of a wider campaign. Numerous right- and far-right-wing influencers, including Tesla and xAI CEO Elon Musk, were hunting for negative comments about Kirk in the wake of his shooting, aiming to punish progressive and critical voices. A few hours after the original post, Harrison wrote that Sucker Punch had received numerous emails calling for their dismissal and reported a barrage of anonymous calls that appeared to come from an ongoing harassment campaign. Harrison was fired less than 24 hours after the tweet.

In an interview with Game File, Fleming confirmed that Harrison was ousted because of the joke about Kirk and the campaign that followed. “The facts are accurate, Drew’s no longer an employee here. I think we’re aligned as a studio that celebrating or making light of someone’s murder is a deal-breaker for us, and we condemn that, kind of in no uncertain terms. That’s sort of our studio, and that’s kind of where we are.” A Sony representative present for the interview prevented it from delving into the issue further.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Harrison’s swift dismissal did little to dull the right-wing rage behind the campaign. Since the firing, cancel campaigns have gone after Bethesda, Blizzard, and numerous public figures and institutions outside of videogames, most notably talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who was taken off the air, and Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, who was fired from the paper for “unacceptable” social media posts about Kirk’s murder. Those posts had highlighted the disparity in coverage between Kirk’s assassination and that of Democratic legislator Melissa Hortman, and quoted Kirk directly as saying “Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously.”

The pressure extended to the broader industry. Microsoft, the parent company of Activision Blizzard, stated on X that it was investigating posts by “a small subset of our employees regarding recent events,” adding that “comments celebrating violence against anyone are unacceptable and do not align with our values.” The statement followed Elon Musk tagging Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a post linking to a list of Blizzard employees supposedly “trashing” Kirk. Outlets such as NPR and Wired have noted that individuals targeted by the campaign are facing waves of death threats, partly on the theory that jokes or criticism of Kirk amount to threats of violence, a framing that may have factored into the firing. Whether Harrison was ever given a chance to clarify the posts to Sony HR or receive a warning is unknown.

Current Status #

As of the sources reviewed, Harrison is no longer employed at Sucker Punch Productions, as confirmed by a Sony spokesperson to Kotaku and by studio head Brian Fleming. Harrison has declined to comment publicly on the dismissal; their Bluesky account appears to have been deleted. In a post published after the firing, Harrison wrote: “If standing up against fascism is what cost me my dream job I held for 10 years, I would do it again 100x stronger. Sucker Punch is amazing and one of the last few bright shining lights in the game industry. I still support them and I cannot condone any animosity directed at them. It’s truly all the best people.”

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The dismissal ended Harrison’s nearly decade-long run at Sucker Punch, costing them a job at a studio whose work they publicly called one of “the last few bright shining lights in the game industry.” Less than 24 hours separated the original post from the loss of a ten-year career, making the case one of the most prominent examples of the post-Kirk campaign in which right-wing influencers pressured employers to fire or discipline employees over comments about Kirk’s killing. The fallout has reached beyond the games industry, with the same wave of pressure targeting studios, networks, and publications, while Harrison has framed the episode as standing up against fascism and said they would do it again.