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Why isn’t Harambe featured in Pokémon Go?

We need to honor his legacy.

Photo of Miles Klee

Miles Klee

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Despite its massive success, Pokémon Go has at least one major failing: The shocking and total absence of Harambe, the silverback gorilla killed at the Cincinnati Zoo earlier this year. 

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True, Harambe—as an actual animal of a species that exists in the real world—was not a Pokémon. He was no monster, and he certainly wasn’t pocket-sized. But as the only cultural phenomenon to rival Pokémon Go in 2016, he deserves to appear in the game.

This, more or less, is the reasoning behind a Change.org petition addressed to Nintendo (which did not actually make Pokémon Go, much to its shareholders annoyance), demanding that the company add “the passed away ape” to the mobile game.

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Supporters have been more than enthusiastic. Elijah Fraser dropped the hashtag #DICKSOUTFORHARAMBE, while Δημήτρης Κατσούκας noted that he signed “because Harambe was a big Pokémon fan and he would be honored to be in this game.”

And lest you think this is just a joke, petition organizer Ezra Liel’s only other Change.org page demands the indictment of Hillary Clinton. So yeah, they’re pretty serious.

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Rest in Pokémon, Harambe.

 
The Daily Dot