[Kotaku UK] Nintendo responds: "We checked with Atlus who confirmed that the actual lyrics of the song do not include the word "retarded"."

[Deleted member 48897]

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2019/04/19/we-screwed-up-with-that-persona-lyric

The salient quote:

We asked Nintendo both for an official transcription of the lyric, and for an explanation as to why this section of the song is omitted from the official lyric transcription. We've now received the following reply:

We checked with Atlus who confirmed that the actual lyrics of the song do not include the word "retarded".

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Frustratingly, this does not clear up the confusion over what the singer is actually saying.

But we accept that this article was a mistake. Publish in haste, as they say, and repent at leisure. We would like to apologise to Atlus, Nintendo, and the many Persona fans who were angry about this piece. It looks like we got it wrong. We screwed up: sorry.

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My biggest concern remains that if you go by the official lyrics sheets, yeah, the entire section that was under discussion in the previous article wasn't anywhere. Saying that the "actual lyrics of the song" do not include the word could even be technically true at the same time that it could be what the singer is saying. EDIT: This is why the previous version of this post's title included the comment that it was a "glib non-answer" which has since been edited by mods.

Anyway go ahead and dismissively flame me for my faulty ears if old

 

[Deleted member 2791]

Feels like your thread title should have been "Kotaku UK confirms they screwed up with that persona lyric".

 

[data]

I felt they really should've done more research before publishing with he clickbait title.

 

[Deleted member 48897]

Feels like your thread title should have been "Kotaku UK confirms they screwed up with that persona lyric".

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Naw, I'd rather actually detail an article's contents than regurgitate a headline

 

[Khanimus]

Yeahhhh this seems like a complete misfire by Kotaku

 

[delete12345]

At least they apologized. If they doubled-down, it would be even worse.

 

[Kyou]

Yeahhhh this seems like a complete misfire by Kotaku

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Yeah, what a completely embarrassing ordeal

 

[Brazil]

What a weird misfire of an article.

 

[Deleted member 2791]

Naw, I'd rather actually detail an article's contents than regurgitate a headline

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More like you'd rather frame your thread on the one sentence in order to spin fault away from Kotaku rather than what the article is about - that they screwed up badly. It's a very misleading thread title.

 

[TheInfinityGauntlet]

I felt they really should've done more research before publishing with he clickbait title.

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100% this, there's no need for another thread when there's no damn news to this

 

[Lashley]

Embarrassing from Kotaku.

 

[Deleted member 10726]

While I knew it wasn't part of the official lyrics, I always misheard it as that too when I listened to the song. Straight up misfire by Kotaku to jump the gun on this though since it's just a mispronunciation on the singer's part, something you can't really frame as intentionally dropping a slur in this situation.

 

[Deleted member 14377]

Maybe press them for their homophobia and transphobia, which there is more than enough proof of instead.

 

[Zeno]

I felt they really should've done more research before publishing with he clickbait title.

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That's certainly what the apology is about.

 

[Abriael]

Feels like your thread title should have been "Kotaku UK confirms they screwed up with that persona lyric".

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It should have. This one definitely feels like a weird attempt to excuse Kotaku.

Incidentally, that's literally the only response they could have gotten. That's an improvisational part by a Japanese artist, and it was reckless to begin with to assume that there was any ill intent on her part.

Incidentally, this "apology" feels way too flippant to be sincere.

 

[TimeFire]

This kind of article is what lowers Kotaku's reputation so much

 

[Bufbaf]

Saying that the "actual lyrics of the song" do not include the word could even be technically true at the same time that it could be what the singer is saying.

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Or she's singing "retard it", which is a pretty harmless musical term for, iirc, speeding/slowing down the song or volume, similar to a "break it down!" in other music, which perfectly makes sense in the context. Surely more than a random "retarded".

 

[Kinthey]

We contacted Atlus and Nintendo for comment before publication. But we published the article before a response was received and, as the subsequent fallout has shown, that was a mistake. I'm the editor of the site and, ultimately, that means this error was down to me and me alone.

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No explanation for why they'd actually do that? This wasn't some terribly time pressing concern

Naw, I'd rather actually detail an article's contents than regurgitate a headline

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One could say that Kotaku saying that they screwed up is a huge part of the content

 

[Silky]

Feel bad for LKD, but this was a boneheaded decision

 

[MattyG]

The moment I saw this and read that they had asked for comment and would update later, I had a feeling it's be a shitstorm. Not gonna lie, I've thought that it said that before too, but with the amount of lyrics on the OST (and in that very song) that I've misheard, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Should've just done a little due diligence and waited for comment. It's not exactly a time-sensitive matter, since the song's been out for 2+ years.

That said, I think the backlash LKD has faced is uncalled for. She messed up, they apologized and tried to make it right, but I've seen some downright nasty shit thrown at her. A conversation can be had about journalistic duty and due diligence without personal attacks, so here's hoping none of that ends up in this thread

 

[Kouriozan]

I don't think Nintendo would have let that slide, I mean they changed Bayonetta's quote "Don't mess (instead of f*ck) with a Witch"

 

[Hate]

This is peak Kotaku.

 

[TripaSeca]

Better than nothing. Better than everybody trying to defend the inexistent journalistic process there.

 

[Deleted member 3058]

This is peak Kotaku.

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This kind of article is what lowers Kotaku's reputation so much

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Have you actually read the article in the OP of this thread?

Hint: The framing of this thread doesn't match the contents of the article.

 

[Haubergeon]

I understand why it's frustrating to not get a specific explanation for exactly what the words here are, since it's so difficult to tell, but it's real wild to try and still turn this around on Atlus. It's pretty obvious this is a deeply embarrassing incident for Kotaku UK and shouldn't have been published from the get-go until there was more information. Any other framing of this story is bizarre.

 

[Datajoy]

Why is the thread title framing this like the issue actually exists.

 

[gigaslash]

Oh nice, another thread to make fun of Kotaku, always welcomed.

 

[Kyou]

It's too bad they didn't acknowledge or apologize for the low-key racism of the article accusing an ESL singer of dropping random slurs in a song for no reason

 

[Axisofweevils]

Weird they still keep the original article up, clickbait headline intact.

 

[treasureyez]

This is peak Kotaku.

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It's certainly peak Kotaku UK, which never comes close to approaching the standards and quality of Kotaku.com's reporting.

 

[HylianSeven]

I don't think Nintendo would have let that slide, I mean they changed Bayonetta's quote "Don't mess (instead of f*ck) with a Witch"

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They changed the lyrics of Mass Destruction from "damn right" to "all right" for Smash.

 

[fargodog]

What even is this thread title though

 

[Deleted member 54320]

Shame about the unnecessary hate that appeared on Twitter and elsewhere because of this article.

 

[Kinthey]

Why is the thread title framing this like the issue actually exists.

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Going by the OPs last line, I guess it's some bias showing.

 

[JoeBoy101]

Sorry OP, but that headline is 20% of the article, and the response hardly seems 'glib', while you ignore the copious mea culpa that Kotaku is doing here..

 

[RexNovis]

Kotaku should have never allowed them to publish this article without doing their due diligence first.

 

[delete12345]

Why is the thread title framing this like the issue actually exists.

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I reported the thread to change/edit the title. The title is really misleading with that framing.

 

[LordQuas]

Why are you bending over backwards to cancel an amazing track?

 

[HylianSeven]

Shame about the unnecessary hate that appeared on Twitter and elsewhere because of this article.

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I was going to mention this as well. Laura has usually been pretty good and this was a mistake, no doubt, but I don't think she deserved the abuse she got on Twitter about it.

 

[TimeFire]

Have you actually read the article in the OP of this thread?

Hint: The framing of this thread doesn't match the contents of the article.

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My post was written poorly. I meant the original slur article.

 

[TheGhost]

So....what is really being said at that moment in the song?

 

[DailyCalmSpirit]

Why in the world did they even publish the initial article without getting a response first?

 

[Deleted member 3294]

Yeah, Nintendo's answer doesn't actually tell us anything we didn't already know. The official lyrics don't contain the slur, but also they don't contain the whole freestyle bit where it is possibly said. The original article mentioned this already too.

Anyway, I mostly hope the article's writer will be alright. She already got a lot of people harassing her because of this and this article isn't exactly helping with that.

 

[WestEgg]

Thread title is misleading, it makes it sound like Kotaku is doubtful of the answer Atlus gave when it's just been editorialized by the OP. The actual contents of the article is mostly apologetic and owning up to their mistake.

 

[devSin]

This is the new "electric telephone in the butt", isn't it?

 

[Hailinel]

OP, there's no point in calling the answer glib and non-enlightening.

The only issue here is that Kotaku fucked up by rushing out an article based on a misheard lyric. Nothing more.

 

[Deleted member 54320]

I was going to mention this as well. Laura has usually been pretty good and this was a mistake, no doubt, but I don't think she deserved the abuse she got on Twitter about it.

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It sounds cliche to mention this but people often forget that there is a person behind every article and such.

Mistakes were made but people need to relax a little.

 

[Imran]

It's certainly peak Kotaku UK, which never comes close to approaching the standards and quality of Kotaku.com's reporting.

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To be clear, they just share a name. Kotaku UK and Kotaku US are not owned by the same parent company.

 

[warp_]

seems like a perfectly reasonable answer and about as much attention as the original article deserves

 

[RexNovis]

I was going to mention this as well. Laura has usually been pretty good and this was a mistake, no doubt, but I don't think she deserved the abuse she got on Twitter about it.

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Nobody deserves twitter abuse but she should know better than to publish an article like this without doing her due diligence beforehand and imo that merits her being called out. Just like her bizarre comments in past reviews also deserve to be pointed out and called out too.