Harmonix's Alex Rigopulos Loves...Stephen Colbert?

The largest single contributor to the Super PAC (political action committee) supporting Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert’s faux presidential campaign is...Alex Rigopulos?

Yes, Alex Rigopulos, the very same CEO of Harmonix, the creators of Rock Band and Guitar Hero. The executive donated nearly $10,000 to “Americans For a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.”

The New York Times has broken down the contributors to Super PACs, and unearthed that Rigopulos contributed $9,600 towards Colbert’s quest to expose the ridiculousness of Super PACs.

Super PACs are the result of a Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in “Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission.”

I won’t get into the politics of the decision--there's plenty of that elsewhere--but the net result has been more money than ever before finding its way into elections, and Colbert’s Super PAC has been doing its best to lampoon the process ever since.

Rigopulos has contributed to campaigns in the past, having donated thousands of dollars to President Obama's campaign in 2008.

If you haven't been paying attention to Colbert's antics, here's a taste of what you've been missing:

Splendid Journalism.

No way.

Neat. Also, that ad is amazing.

Why don't you cover real news instead of glorifying Harmonix who will be foreclosed this year? Is $10,000 to a SuperPAC really smart when your company stole money from Viacom?

I love him too.

I enjoy Stephen Colbert too. NEWS!

Although I guess the fact that Viacom is involved with the Super PAC that theres extreme hyperbole on the CEO giving money to the people he accuses of cheating him out of money.

@Methodis said:

Why don't you cover real news instead of glorifying Harmonix who will be foreclosed this year? Is $10,000 to a SuperPAC really smart when your company stole money from Viacom?

Hey Methodis I heard John T Drake murdered your dog and Alex Navarro stole your lunch money, is that true?

@benson said:

@Methodis said:

Why don't you cover real news instead of glorifying Harmonix who will be foreclosed this year? Is $10,000 to a SuperPAC really smart when your company stole money from Viacom?

Hey Methodis I heard John T Drake murdered your dog and Alex Navarro stole your lunch money, is that true?

No, I just don't stand for bad games and people who try to rip off corporations :).

@Methodis: Truly the greatest evil of our times.

@benson said:

@Methodis said:

Why don't you cover real news instead of glorifying Harmonix who will be foreclosed this year? Is $10,000 to a SuperPAC really smart when your company stole money from Viacom?

Hey Methodis I heard John T Drake murdered your dog and Alex Navarro stole your lunch money, is that true?

You're nothing more than a dirty liar. It's the other way around.

The part about the silent T and what else is he being silent about, that made me laugh my ass off, I love political ads.

@Methodis said:

No, I just don't stand for bad games and people who try to rip off corporations :).

Ah, so Casey Malone laughed at your haircut then.

(Seriously duder you should just stop with your weird little vendetta, it's creepy)

Oh Stephen Colbert. How you never cease to amuse me.

Some of the guys over at Harmonix are just great. When they come over to hang out with Giant Bomb, it's always a good time. :)

@Methodis said:

Why don't you cover real news instead of glorifying Harmonix who will be foreclosed this year? Is $10,000 to a SuperPAC really smart when your company stole money from Viacom?

It's not Patrick's fault that Rigopolous donated money. He's not going to throw an article away just because somebody on the internet doesn't like Harmonix.

American politix

My hatred of people who steal money from corproations - in this case Harmonix Music Systems -is no different from the army of drones who hate a hard working start up like Zynga irrationally. Especially when they claim that Zynga "steals" ideas, and then go on to praise PopCap, who stole many of their games from small indie developers. Except just because one time this paid public relations worker from Harmonix made a funny i'm the immoral one for seeing behind the veil of lies? I wonder if Zynga was friends with the site if people would still hate them.

Listen, I fully support Stephen Colbert's farcical attack on our election system, but this does not deserve to be news.

@Methodis said:

Although I guess the fact that Viacom is involved with the Super PAC that theres extreme hyperbole on the CEO giving money to the people he accuses of cheating him out of money.

Technically, Viacom has nothing to do with the Colbert Super Pac. Under Federal law, they can't be part of it. That's why Stephen Colbert had to jump through hoops to make sure that simply showing his daily program wasn't considered a contribution to the Super Pac. Viacom is not an official sponsor of the Super Pac or a contributor. It is the work of Stephen Colbert and his team alone.

Supporting the Colbert Super Pac(aka. the Anti Super Pac Super Pac) is not in any way a support of Viacom, as none of the money goes to Viacom. The money is solely under the authority of Stephen Colbert and his personal team.

@TruthTellah said:

@Methodis said:

Although I guess the fact that Viacom is involved with the Super PAC that theres extreme hyperbole on the CEO giving money to the people he accuses of cheating him out of money.

Technically, Viacom has nothing to do with the Colbert Super Pac. Under Federal law, they can't be part of it. That's why Stephen Colbert had to jump through hoops to make sure that simply showing his daily program wasn't considered a contribution to the Super Pac. Viacom is not an official sponsor of the Super Pac or a contributor. It is the work of Stephen Colbert and his team alone.

Supporting the Colbert Super Pac(aka. the Anti Super Pac Super Pac) is not in any way a support of Viacom, as none of the money goes to Viacom. The money is solely under the authority of Stephen Colbert and his personal team.

This may be true, but Viacom earns money from advertising and the Colbert Show itself, which uses the Super PAC to draw in viewers, which this CEO contributed to!

@Methodis said:

My hatred of people who steal money from corproations - in this case Harmonix Music Systems -is no different from the army of drones who hate a hard working start up like Zynga irrationally. Especially when they claim that Zynga "steals" ideas, and then go on to praise PopCap, who stole many of their games from small indie developers. Except just because one time this paid public relations worker from Harmonix made a funny i'm the immoral one for seeing behind the veil of lies? I wonder if Zynga was friends with the site if people would still hate them.

You want this, don't you? The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant.

Also how come this is news yet the thousands of dollars Bobby Kotick gives to charity ever year not "news"? Is this implying that a political organization is more important then supporting sick and needy children around the world? Where's the article highlighting the good deeds of Mr. Kotick and the other CEO's?

@Methodis said:

Why don't you cover real news instead of glorifying Harmonix who will be foreclosed this year? Is $10,000 to a SuperPAC really smart when your company stole money from Viacom?

Aaah, there is so much stupid here it hurts. =(

Right well, who doesn't love Colbert?

Good for Rigopulos. Colbert and Jon Stewart should be commended for showing the sheer stupidity of the whole PAC process. It's kinda ridiculous when it takes satirists to get the point across about how ridiculous the US electoral process is.

I really thought I would say this, but please keep these type of articles on Kotaku.

ok

@pw2566ch said:

I really thought I would say this, but please keep these type of articles on Kotaku.

And I say please continue. Every piece of content does not need to appeal to every person. I don't watch the Endurance Run videos, but you don't see me complaining that they need to stop producing that content.

How is this news at all? Who gives a fuck about this?

So, with all the Rock Band DLC I've bought (*cough A LOT), in a way I feel I've also donated to Stephen Colberts Super PAC. Thanks Alex, I feel better now! :)

politics on my favorite gaming site, what next

This was an article that needed to be written

@Methodis said:

@TruthTellah said:

@Methodis said:

Although I guess the fact that Viacom is involved with the Super PAC that theres extreme hyperbole on the CEO giving money to the people he accuses of cheating him out of money.

Technically, Viacom has nothing to do with the Colbert Super Pac. Under Federal law, they can't be part of it. That's why Stephen Colbert had to jump through hoops to make sure that simply showing his daily program wasn't considered a contribution to the Super Pac. Viacom is not an official sponsor of the Super Pac or a contributor. It is the work of Stephen Colbert and his team alone.

Supporting the Colbert Super Pac(aka. the Anti Super Pac Super Pac) is not in any way a support of Viacom, as none of the money goes to Viacom. The money is solely under the authority of Stephen Colbert and his personal team.

This may be true, but Viacom earns money from advertising and the Colbert Show itself, which uses the Super PAC to draw in viewers, which this CEO contributed to!

The Super PAC doesn't run ads for the show. It runs anti-Super PAC ads for the sake of showing the farce in such organizations. Like running a political campaign to show the farce in many campaigns.

The CEO of Harmonix can contribute to whatever he likes. Stephen Colbert =/= Viacom. Supporting Stephen Colbert's efforts doesn't mean we support everything the company that owns his show has ever done. No more than buying some gas means we support everything a big oil company does. And even then, that's -more- of a direct support of a corporation than supporting Stephen Colbert's Super PAC.

Hate Harmonix or hate Viacom, it doesn't make a difference. This is an individual citizen contributing his money to a cause, not a corporation. He believes in it, and while we may agree or not agree with his choice, it's his choice and an interesting one at that. I don't know if its particularly note-worthy, but it's certainly interesting.

Jesus Christ you guys this article is 180 words long, what are you so mad about? You never had to read it in the first place!

I would give a penny for Cobert's thoughts.

Hard to tell what is sadder - the people that think Colbert is funny, or that an idiot giving money to another idiot is a valid news story....

I, too, love Colbert. If I was a woman, I'd have his children.

I, too, love Colbert. If I was a woman, I'd have his children.

@Kandycane2029 said:

@Methodis: I really can't tell if you're trolling or not.

From what I understand, years ago a forum on wich Methodis used to post got closed because of Harmonix and it completely broke his mind. He also got himself banned from the SomethingAwful forums multiple times because he can't stop flipping the fuck out every time Harmonix is mentioned.

Guy associated with gaming does something.

NEWS!

@MJames70 said:

Hard to tell what is sadder - the people that think Colbert is funny, or that an idiot giving money to another idiot is a valid news story....

So close.

I'm looking forward to the game that's coming out. Oh, wait...

I guess the more popular the bomb gets, the more trolly some of the comments become? Some really headscratching theories banging around.

I love what Stephen Colbert is doing. The Super Pac fiasco is beyond ridiculous and there's not enough rage over how much it's destroyed our politics in such a short period of time.

Don't care if this is only partially related to videogames, it's more important than that.

I guess the more popular the bomb gets, the more trolly some of the comments become? Some really headscratching theories banging around.

I came here for the news story.

I stayed for the @Methodis being out of his fucking mind with irrational contempt.

@President_Barackbar said:

@Johntdrake said:

I guess the more popular the bomb gets, the more trolly some of the comments become? Some really headscratching theories banging around.

Come on Drake, you aren't fooling anyone. I know you and your dancing simulators are attempting to usher in a new world order in which all problems are solved through dance battles.

...I would live in that World Order.