Summary
Fans have finally gotten a first glimpse at the wild world ofGrand Theft Auto 6, with the massively anticipated title releasing its first official trailer on December 4. This trailer quickly amassed over 100 million views, breaking several longstanding records and only increasing the palpable hype that has surrounded the project for some time.
While most of this firstGrand Theft Auto 6trailer introduced fans to Lucia, one of the game’s protagonists, it also showcased what players can expect from the title’s bombastic return to Vice City. Of course, like many locations in theGrand Theft Autouniverse, Vice City takes heavy inspiration from a real-world location, namely Miami, Florida. This was more than evident in the reveal trailer forGTA 6, with some real-world figures like the “Florida Joker” taking offense to their alleged inclusion in the promotional video.
Grand Theft Auto 6’s Florida Inspiration is Already Causing Trouble
Rockstar clearly wanted to convey the core themes and tone ofGTA 6’s interpretation of Vice Cityfrom the get-go, and the recent reveal trailer did an excellent job at this. Despite the trailer only being brief, it managed to show the crowded beaches, bustling night-life, and chaotic inhabitants of the city in all their glory. Exaggerated and often satirical representations of American cities are a staple ofGrand Theft Autoas a whole, with the most iconic franchise locations owing their roots to the following cities:
New York City
Miami, Florida
SinceGrand Theft Auto’s last installment, which released in 2013, social media and short-form content has exploded to become a dominant force of the internet. This is something that was also reflected inGTA 6’s trailer. The video showcased clear parodies of things like TikTok and Instagram live-streams, so the game is expected to employ a lot of satire around influencer culture and viral internet clips.
People have already identified a number of references toreal-life viral Florida moments in theGTA 6trailer, with the Florida Joker drawing some of the most attention. During theGTA 6trailer, a brief moment shows an eccentric looking man being sentenced at a criminal hearing on the news, with a Spanish description on the newscast stating how the man’s tattoos were key to convicting him.
The man has dyed purple hair and a litany of face and neck tattoos, including blacked-out eye sockets, barbed wire across his face, and the word “impentinent” scrawled across his forehead. The fictional character has clear inspirations from many iconic mugshots that have gone viral over the years, but one man,Lawrence Sullivan, claims that theGTA 6figure is a direct adaptation of his likeness.
The Florida Joker is Creating Controversy Around the GTA 6 Trailer
Sullivan is known as the Florida Joker thanks to his own striking face tattoos, which include the iconic Joker smile, blacked out eyes, a batarang, and the word Joker across his forehead. Lawrence Sullivan has had his own mugshots go viral in the past, and he believes his status as a Florida resident is perfect evidence that Rockstar has copied his likeness for its upcoming project.
The Florida Joker has been very public in his outrage over this,demaning financial compensation from Rockstarand drawing a lot of attention to himself. While it is undeniable that there are some similarities between Sullivan and the man from theGTA 6trailer, the tattoos and hairstyles of the two are completely different, meaning many people see Sullivan’s claims as baseless attention-seeking. Sullivan has even gone on to dye his hair purple as opposed to his usual green in an attempt to increase the similarities between himself and theGTA 6character. While theGrand Theft Auto 6trailer explored many interesting characters, the Florida Joker has strangely made the tattooed man from the video the most controversial figure of the bunch.
Grand Theft Auto 6
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Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
