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Halo has been the latest gaming franchise adapted for television, with Paramount kicking off a 9-episode series. Season One is well along the way, with two episodes already available to the public.
While few have enjoyed the show, the overall response has been mixed.
It has now appeared that CBS is even silencing critics of the show, and Joe Vargas, a.k.a AngryJoe, has become a victim of it. What's even more bizarre is the fact that CBS later unblocked the video without any explanation.
The censorship comes in the wake of Joe criticizing the show after watching the second episode on a press copy. After watching it, Joe felt that Halo is yet another gaming franchise being milked by a production house.
While the TV show has followed a fresh storyline, some decisions have gone against the fans' wishes. Irrespective of someone's judgment, everybody deserves to have free speech.
Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case for AngryJoe, whose opinion has been censored following a negative outburst.
CBS has reportedly censored negative reviews of the Halo TV series
Earlier on April 1, Reddit user u/infamousu posted a screengrab of AngryJoe's tweet. The tweet, posted on the same date, stated that Joe's entire review of episode 2 was blocked globally by CBS. The action was pretty straightforward since Joe wasn't happy about the series's path.
The news surprised many fans. The surprising factor wasn't because of the news, as some had forecasted such an occurrence. What left fans surprised was the fact that a review was blocked. Whether a review is factually correct or not is for the viewers to decide.
One member stated that it could have happened if there were enough clips to make a copy strike.
The claim was debunked by another member who stated that Joe was allowed a legitimate copy for the same reason. Joe had already revealed that he had watched the second episode on a press copy.
One fan stated that this ban is the reason why some gaming publications and journalists often end up giving false reviews. If they don't, the company may stop providing them with early-access copies for reviews.
The evidence of the above incident was reflected by another user who stated some recent events. Sony was recently involved in blacklisting an outlet for apparently negative reviews.
Irrespective of personal preferences, censorship of voice should never be allowed. This was the belief of one user who said that they don't like Joe. But the censorship of the review episode shouldn't have happened.
Some people are amazed at how CBS could control a video on YouTube. The most a third-party can do is flag the video and YouTube then review it for the validity of the accusation.
The investment by CBS on the show may have been the reason for the defensive behavior. Some users have lamented that only if a different platform like Netflix made the series. Netflix has been successful in recent times with video game adaptations like Witcher and Arcane (League of Legends).
CBS unblocked the video eventually
There was some silver lining for Joe and Halo fans as a whole. Following the ban on episode 2, Joe later uploaded a tweet that said that CBS had reversed the earlier block.
The unblocking opened a debate between fans as some claimed this may have been caused automatically by a bot.
However, others were less than convinced. Even Joe had originally tweeted about CBS blocking it and it's quite unlikely that he had made an uninformed comment in that manner.
One fan stated that CBS might have tried to get away with the ban. As the incident imploded on the Halo sub, the company may have changed its stance.
Even if it was a pure accident, one fan believes that it's highly irresponsible on the part of CBS to take down a video like that.
Overall, the entire saga was an absolutely bizarre one that stemmed from the poor reception of the Halo series among fans. It's uncertain as to what exactly happened between Joe's review and CBS. Based on the earlier reactions of the Halo fanbase, it's unlikely that too many fans will be swayed by what Paramount has to offer.
