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EA Sports to remove 'toxic' 'FIFA 21' celebrations

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Aug 11, 2020 4:05 PM ET

ESPN confirmed on Tuesday that EA Sports will remove celebrations from the "FIFA 21" title that have been deemed "toxic" by some gamers.

The "shushing" gesture and also a celebration that includes an "OK" hand signal that has been linked with white supremacy groups will be eliminated following complaints from members of the FIFA community.

In a statement shared by ESPN on Tuesday, EA announced:

"We were told by the community that there are toxic behaviours in the game and we wanted to make sure we removed them.

"We removed some of the celebrations that people thought were not the best idea to have in the game.

"The flow is shorter, which is to try to keep you playing most of the time instead of just waiting.

"All together the intention there is just to keep you playing instead of doing other things that may not be necessary in the game."

EA introduced Paris Saint-Germain and France superstar Kylian Mbappe as the "FIFA 21" cover star in July.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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