GTA Trilogy removes reference to Confederate flag

It looks like Rockstar has removed references to the Confederate flag in the upcoming GTA Trilogy remaster.

As noted by Kotaku, the newest trailer for the trilogy shows recurring character Phil Cassidy—a drunken arms dealer and Grade A idiot—no longer sporting a t-shirt with the Confederate flag. Instead, it's changed to a skull and yellow banner. It's a real 'blink and you'll miss it' moment if you're only casually watching the trailer, but you can catch it at around 34 seconds. 

Rockstar hasn't addressed the change publicly yet, nor has it responded to our request for comment. It's unclear if references to the flag have been entirely removed from the trilogy or whether it's a visual tweak for the trailer only. 

This isn't the first time that Rockstar has removed the flag—which has long served as a symbol of Southern slavery—from its games. GTA 5 saw the removal of a flag from one of its trailer parks, though the symbol remained elsewhere in the game. In more recent memory, Twitch introduced guidelines at the end of 2020 which banned the display of the Confederate flag because of its "historic and symbolic association with slavery and white supremacist groups."