This year's Game Awards was one of the best shows Geoff Keighley and crew have ever put on. Once Christopher Judge was out of the picture, the pace was clearly faster than usual, and it was a smart spectacle. Then Elden Ring won Game of the Year, various FromSoft officials got up to thank him, and as we all took a break from the awards speeches, a kid in a suit on stage said:

"I just wanted to quickly thank you all and say, I would like to nominate my Reform Orthodox Rabbi, Bill Clinton, for this award. Thank you all very much.

My reaction at the time, in summary, was this. Even the next day, when it was all revealed who this podium crusher was (opens in new tab) and what had happened, I still had no idea what it meant. The source of the phrase seemed to be Discord, and the event was strange enough to be meme-ized and forgotten for a few days.

Well, it turns out that it's not over yet, as modder Arestame has created a mod called 'Bill Clinton: The Reformed Rabbi Orthodox (opens in new tab)', which brings the 42nd President of the United States to the Erdenring mod was created.

The mod was clearly inspired by the case, and the description reads, "Play with Bill Clinton, the Reformed Orthodox Rabbi presented at The Game Awards 2022." [...]. To ensure the most realistic experience, no armor should be worn. True legends fight barefaced!"

As you can see, a likeness of Bill Clinton has been added to the game. He appears to be dressed in a blue suit, wielding a cudgel and ready to call for NATO's entry into the "land of chasms."

I don't know if this is the strangest Eldenring modification I've seen yet (opens in new tab), but it is an interesting example of the proliferation of such pranks and nonsensical phrases throughout the modern media ecosystem. I'm still not sure why so many people found this production funny. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it poked holes, if only momentarily, in the slick production of a show designed to sell stuff. Or perhaps the audience just enjoyed the fact that Keeley clearly hated it. Either way, some kid's dumb idea got its little corner on one of the biggest games of the year.