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Jack Thompson appears on G4

Everybody's favorite crazy lawyer has appeared on television once again. This time, however, he lands in the lion's den for some heated debate and talking over other guests.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jack Thompson, read more about his exploits, and check out the video of his appearance on Attack of the Show after the jump.

Joystiq, who originally posted the link to the YouTube video, also has the transcript here.

Jack Thompson has appeared in the public eye several times, most notably on NBC's Today show and CNN where he speculated that the Snipers that appeared in the DC area in 2002 might have been gamers, and again when the Hot Coffee scandal made headlines. No stranger to controversy, Jack's first tip o' the crazy hat came when he presented Janet Reno with a note saying "I, Janet Reno, am a: 1)Homosexual, 2)Bisexual, 3)Heterosexual", with an indication that if she didn't answer, she would be assumed to be one of the first two choices (more on that here).

Perhaps Thompson's most notable public outcry came when he butted heads with Tycho and Gabe (Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik) of Penny Arcade. The whole mess began when Thompson wrote an open letter (as he has done many times) to several industry folks, media outlets, and government agencies offering to donate $10,000 to charity if someone would make a game called "I'm OK". The proposal describes a graphic scenario in which the father of a murdered child goes on a rampage against the video game industry, making thinly veiled references to publisher Take Two and The ESA. Needless to say, several dozen versions of "I'm OK" appeared on the internet within a week (some of which are quite good), causing Thompson to quickly state that the offer was only "satire".

This caused Jerry and Mike, writer and artist of Penny-Arcade, to post about the whole mess. Jerry called Thompson's attempt at satire "vile", positing that Thompson was "essentially holding money hostage from charity". Thompson's reaction was an attempt to have the duo arrested by the Seattle PD. Prior to Thompson's call for police action, Jerry and Mike posted an image of a check for $10,000 made out to the ESA Foundation (a charity) by Penny Arcade in Jack Thompson's name, due to the lawyer's refusal to honor his offer. Writer Chris Kohler neatly sums up the whole affair at his blog on Wired.

If you are interested in learning more about the game industry and its struggles with legitimacy and politics, check out gamepolitics.com, where Jack Thompson has been banned for trolling and being generally inflammatory in his posts (more on that here).


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