California Anti-Game Legislator Arrested on Corruption Charges

Who's got a lust for money now?

Image Via: Getty

The California state senator Leland Yee, who wrote the anti-game law the Supreme Court later overturned in a landmark 2011 decision protecting video games as a form of art, was arrested on charges of bribery and corruption this morning.

According to KRCA, Yee's office at the state capitol in Sacramento was raided by the FBI as well as several homes and businesses elsewhere in the city and Bay Area where Lee's District is located.

Yee, currently a candidate for California secretary of state, took a very hard stance on video games and gamers by establishing a 2005 law creating criminal penalties for anyone selling a “violent video game” as defined by the state, to a minor. "This is all about their lust for violence and the industry's lust for money," Yee said. "This is a billion-dollar industry. This is about their self-interest."

Immediately after, then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (and king of movie violence himself), signed the bill into law, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of the gaming industry against the state. The suit worked its way up from appellate courts, to state court then finally the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled 7-2 in favor of striking down the law in 2011 and establishing video games as a form of protected expression.

So apparently Yee is against violence but for greed? Smell that sweet irony.

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[via Polygon]

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