GTA 5’s Michael Actor Has Been Swatted So Often That He’s Friends With The Police
Joshua Robertson is a News Editor for TheGamer. When not writing about breaking news, community stories, or covering industry events, you can find him begging FromSoftware for a Bloodborne remaster.
When it comes to famous people within Grand Theft Auto 5’s community that are deeply connected to the game’s audience, you don’t get much more high profile than Ned Luke, the voice actor for Michael De Santa. Over the years, he’s made efforts to play the game with fans, regularly streams the title, and is just a generally cool guy within the game’s community. Unfortunately, he pays a pretty big price for that, as he’s been swatted more times than pretty much anyone I’ve ever heard of.
GTA 5 s Ned Luke Has Been Swatted At Least Eight Times Since Dec 2023
Luke’s seemingly first public swatting took place back in November 2023, though the actor claimed at the time on Twitter that it was actually the sixth time it had happened to him. He was then swatted a month later, making it at least seven times and twice in two months. He’s swatted on a relatively consistent basis, and his latest swatting was probably one of the most ridiculous we’ve seen so far.
Last week, Luke was in a GTA Online livestream with Red Dead Redemption and John Marston voice actor Rob Wiethoff, during which he was unsurprisingly swatted once again. In a clip shared by YouTube channel IceBladeNinja (thanks Kotaku), you get to see just how normal swatting attempts have become for Luke, as not only do the police just casually stroll into the man’s house and say “you’re being swatted again”, he turns around to greet them and says he’s about to “say Merry Christmas to my friends.”
It has to get to a pretty ridiculous number of swatting attempts to have police not only recognize an address they’ve been to multiple times, but know the man inside well enough to just casually stroll in with no weapons drawn and give the guy a hug. This marks the eighth time that we know that Luke has actually been swatted, but it seems unlikely with how the police act in the clip and how frequently it happens that nobody would have tried in the past couple of years.
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Fortunately, it does seem like Luke is actually forcing some of the people attempting to swat him to realize the consequences of their actions. Luke shared a picture of what appears to be federal charges and a court summons for an alleged swatter on his Instagram account earlier this week, along with the caption “f*** around and find out.” I guess that’s as good a warning as any to maybe not swat the poor guy anymore, especially now it seems like he’s buddies with the local police.
M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
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