Originally posted by CATMANEXE
how so is he associated with African Americans? he's a potrayal
of Mike Tyson. he isnt associated with African Americans anymore
or less than Tyson is. he's only a parody of a certain celebrity, not to disparage an entire race, in fact theres been a few black characters in the Street Fighter series that did not fit this negative mold. he is no
more an intentional slam on the African American community as a
whole is than Mike Tyson himself is.the reason Germans dont get offended by a character in a video game who IS based on Nazi Germans (again, play Bionic Commando straight through to its end, then try again. you fight Hitler at the end of the game) because they arent that silly to actually care about a parody.
Again, that's because there is no reason to get offended by a portrayal of a nazi war criminal as evil or insane, there is reason though by the portrayal of a black man as a savage, money grabbing ape.
I am not saying that the latter happened with Balrog, personally I think it didn't really, but your comparison to Nazi War Criminals is weak, as that is not offensive, to anyone, except maybe Nazi War Criminals....who are an extremely unvocal minority nowadays.