Republican congressional candidate and Grammy-nominated composer Marty O'Donnell spoke to Fox News Digital on Wednesday about how he was disinvited from a reunion with his fellow creators of the "Halo" video game series for comments made on the campaign trail.
On Tuesday, O’Donnell shared a screenshot of an email he received from his booker who handles his event appearances, informing him he had been uninvited from a reunion of his fellow "Halo" creators at a pop culture convention, saying, "The promoter for SacAnime has shared that his LGBTQ staff does not feel comfortable if you attend the event. Based on your recently reported statements of the political campaign, they have rescinded their invitation to not cause any further staff upset."
"I’m very disappointed that SacAnime has disinvited me from a Halo 25 reunion at their conference next month. If you thought we defeated Cancel Culture in 2024, guess again!" O’Donnell responded in a tweet.
O’Donnell spent decades creating some of the most iconic music in video game history. He has since thrown his hat in the ring as the Trump-backed Republican nominee to represent Nevada's 3rd Congressional District. O’Donnell shared a statement about the incident with Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
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"In January, I was invited to attend a Halo reunion at SacAnime over Labor Day weekend in Sacramento, CA. I was excited to attend with so many stars, including Jen Taylor and Steve Down[e]s, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Halo with all of our fans. They even asked me to record a video promoting my attendance two weeks ago," he recalled.
"After SacAnime made numerous announcements of my attendance over this last weekend, I was told I was being disinvited because I called Marxism an existential threat. They have removed me from their website and deleted all their posts on social media promoting my appearance," O'Donnell continued.
"My existential threat comment has been twisted a lot by my political opponents over the last few weeks and anyone who saw the video knows that to be true," he added. "That is why I know it’s not why I have been pulled from SacAnime. I was pulled because I am a Republican candidate for office."
"Funny enough, SacAnime’s decision proves my point. Silencing the opposition is a key component of Marxism and that is one reason why Marxism is an existential threat to our country," O’Donnell said. "I genuinely believed we had put an end to Cancel Culture after the 2024 election, but that was just the end to what AOC called ‘Woke 1’ earlier this week. Woke 2 is here, and it is just as eager to silence and destroy conservatives as Woke 1."
"Unfortunately for them, I can’t be silenced. I will continue to use my voice to speak out against the threats our country faces, especially from Marxists who seek to destroy the United States," he concluded.
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The comment that appeared to have caused the firestorm was when he condemned the rise of Marxism and identity politics, noting that this coalition seems to be between groups that share little in common aside from a common enemy.
"Talk about an existential threat, this is where we are right now," he said during an appearance on The WDW Pro Show. "We are on the cliff looking down into the abyss. And the abyss is Marxism, it’s anti-Western philosophy. There’s a weird alliance of all these groups who like to pretend they’re oppressed. The LGBTQ+ people, the Islamists, the Marxists, they’re all together now, acting like they’re all together on the same side. They’re not on the same side."
"Islam and communism do not mix at all," he said. "They'll be partners for a while in order to overthrow the West."
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Fox News Digital contacted the SacAnime convention in northern California for comment but did not immediately receive a response.