Game Awards host Geoff Keighley has once again been accosted by an irreverent, clout-chasing youth, this time at the 2023 Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase. A man rushed the stage to tell the audience that “Bill Clinton wants to play GTA VI.” Keighley’s disappointment was palpable.
The incident occurred in the opening minutes of the multi-hour “celebration” of gaming, between Starfield composer Inon Zur performing one of the main themes from the open-world sci-fi RPG and director Todd Howard coming on stage to walk viewers through the gameplay. Keighley was gloating about getting to play the game early right before an audience member walked up the platform and tried to get a few seconds on the host’s hot mic.
“Very disappointing,” Keighley said several times as stagehands escorted the man and his friend out of the room.
The unscripted interruption recalled a moment during last year’s Game Awards ceremony when a kid snuck up on stage behind the Elden Ring development team and proceeded to talk nonsense about Bill Clinton and Orthodox Judaism. He was eventually detained and questioned by police before later being released and revealed to be Matan Even, an online troll who had gone viral for several in-person stunts in the past.
“This is such a special night for so many developers and it’s really dissapointing to see someone act that way but we’re gonna move right on with the show,” Keighley said today. “Really it’s just so sad to see something like this happen on a night we’re here to celebrate games hand how much they mean to us.”
Fortunately, Howard showed up moments later to the swelling music of Starfield without missing a beat. He said it was his first time ever at Gamescom.