Republican congressional candidate and Grammy-nominated composer Marty O’Donnell, best known for creating the iconic music of the Halo video game series, has been uninvited from a planned 25th-anniversary reunion with fellow Halo creators.
According to reporting by Fox News Digital, O’Donnell shared a screenshot of an email from his booker.
The message stated that the promoter for SacAnime (a pop-culture convention in Sacramento) had rescinded his invitation because “his LGBTQ staff does not feel comfortable if you attend the event.”
The email cited “recently reported statements of the political campaign” and said the decision was made “to not cause any further staff upset.”
O’Donnell had been invited in January to appear at the Labor Day weekend event alongside other Halo alumni, including voice actress Jen Taylor and Steve Downs.
SacAnime had publicly promoted his attendance and even asked him to record a promotional video shortly before the invitation was withdrawn.
The convention later removed him from its website and deleted related social media posts.
In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, O’Donnell said he was told the reason was his description of Marxism as an “existential threat.”
He argued that political opponents had distorted his remarks and that the real issue was his status as a Republican candidate for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District (he is the Trump-endorsed nominee challenging Democratic Rep. Susie Lee).
“I genuinely believed we had put an end to Cancel Culture after the 2024 election, but that was just the end to what AOC called ‘Woke 1’ earlier this week.
Woke 2 is here, and it is just as eager to silence and destroy conservatives as Woke 1,” he told Fox News Digital.
He added that SacAnime’s decision “proves my point” because “silencing the opposition is a key component of Marxism.”
The comments at the center of the controversy came during a podcast appearance in which O’Donnell criticized the rise of Marxism and identity politics, describing what he called a temporary alliance among groups that share little in common beyond opposition to Western values.
Fox News Digital contacted SacAnime for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Coverage of the incident has also appeared in outlets including The Blaze, Townhall, and the Nevada Globe.
