Woke lead designer of Black Panther video game admits she doesn’t hire white people because it’s ‘hard to work with’ them and she wanted to create a ‘safe environment’
- Dani Lalonders, an associate narrative designer at Cliffhanger Games, made the comments in 2021, when she was working on another video called ValiDate
- Gamers are starting to criticize Cliffhanger Games, leaving comments on their X account denouncing Lalonders’ comments
One of the developers of the upcoming Black Panther video game once admitted that she doesn’t hire white people because “it’s hard to work with them.”
Dani Lalonders, an associate narrative designer at EA-owned Cliffhanger Games, made the comments in 2021, while working for another video game called ValiDate, which follows 13 characters in Jersey City as they navigate dating.
The comments have since gone viral after they were shared by TikTok’s right-wing account Libs, sparking outrage on social media among critics who say the comments are racist and evidence of discrimination.
‘ValiDate has a team of all people of color. We don’t have white people on our team,” she said during a talk at the Game Devs of Color Expo.
“I did that because I wanted to create a safe environment, and I know the best way to make an environment safe is to have people around you who are just like me.”
Dani Lalonders, a developer of the upcoming Black Panther video game, once admitted that she doesn’t hire white people because ‘it’s hard to work with them’
Not much is known about the Black Panther video game, which was announced last July by Cliffhanger Games, part of EA
She added, “I’m not saying white people create an unsafe environment, I’m saying it’s hard to work with white people sometimes because sometimes they think something is okay, but it’s actually a microaggression.
“And no one wants to have to deal with that while you’re trying to make a game they love.”
DailyMail.com has contacted Lalonders, Marvel, EA and Veritable Joe Studios, which oversaw ValiDate, for comment on this story.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk was among the social media users who responded to Lalonder’s comments, simply replying with an exclamation point.
Erfan Ebrahimnia, a web developer, said: Lead developer of the new Black Panther game has admitted to being hired based on skin color.
‘Where has it gone wrong as a society that such a person can proudly be racist online without any repercussions?
“This person is clearly incapable of leading a team and should be fired immediately.”
Not much is known about the Black Panther video game, which was announced last July by Cliffhanger Games, part of Electronic Arts (EA).
EA described it as an “original single-player third-person game.”
Gamers have begun to criticize Cliffhanger Games, leaving comments on their X account denouncing Lalonders’ comments.
Ironically, the company had taken out ads looking for “diverse, fearless artists to collaborate” on the Black Panther game.
“Your game just officially bombed even before it was released,” read one comment.
“Is your main developer of this game still practicing racism?” asked another.
A third added: ‘No one will buy your racist game.’