‘Angry Trayvon’ Game Still In App Store

As the George Zimmerman trial continues in Florida, an “Angry Trayvon” game app some feel is offensive to the memory of the slain teen is still available for purchase despite developer claims it was removed from outlets like the Google Play store.

The “Angry Trayvon” game is priced at $1.99, and Trade Digital, the developer, released a Facebook statement that is now unavailable — apparently due to deletion.

The statement read:

“The people spoke out therefore this game was removed from the app stores. Sorry for the inconvenience as this was just an action game for entertainment. This was by no means a racist game. Nonetheless, it was removed as will this page and anything associated with the game will be removed.”

The “Angry Trayvon” app was the subject of a web petition to prompt its removal, and the petition read in part:

“This application unnecessarily promotes violence and exploits the unfortunate death of Trayvon Martin. I am sure his parents [do] not appreciate the image of their son as a gun toting vigilante.”

It continued:

The death of this young man is NOT A GAME. This developer is using the Google Marketplace to exploit the death of an unarmed teen for profit while simultaneously promoting violence. Given the racial and social climate surrounding this issue and the unfair depiction of a deceased minor who perished as a result of gun violence, we are asking that this application be moved from the Google Play marketplace immediately.

A commenter over on CNet had this to say about the decision to create an “Angry Trayvon” game:

“Man… that’s really low. Regardless of who you think the true aggressor was, Trayvon was killed, and his loved ones are grieving. For these guys to be trying to cash in on this is really insensitive.”

It’s not clear whether the “Angry Trayvon” app remains due to a lag in deletion from the app store, or if increased coverage of the app in tech news overall sparked higher sales and caused the developer to backpedal on removing the game from the store while download rates may be spiking.