The Pokémon Company has issued an official response to the use of its intellectual property in a social media video shared by the US Department of Homeland Security earlier this week, confirming that it had no involvement in the controversial post.
The video depicts footage of US officials, including members of Border Patrol squads and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), conducting raids and arrests, set to and captioned with the title of the English Pokémon anime theme song, "Gotta Catch 'Em All."
The Pokémon Company's official response to Eurogamer confirms what many already believed: "We are aware of a recent video posted by the Department of Homeland Security that includes imagery and language associated with our brand. Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property."
The above video was posted on the Department of Homeland Security's official X (formerly Twitter) page on September 22.
The video sparked immediate controversy, with many viewers criticizing its inappropriately gleeful tone and overt racism, stereotyping immigrants — primarily those from Latin-American and Caribbean countries — as criminals. The video ends with several images of people arrested by...
