Riley Gaines slammed over bizarre GTA 6 take as she hopes game inspires people to have ‘more babies’

Lauren MartinezMon, September 7, 2026 at 6:15 PM UTC

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Riley Gaines faced backlash for her take on GTA 6 romance -Credit:FOX News

Riley Gaines faced some major backlash after her unexpected take on the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, which is set to allow players to pursue an optional in-game romance and relationship between two protagonist characters.

The famous video game franchise announced plans to include the optional storyline in the upcoming release this November, which has been met with mixed reactions from fans, with some approving and others blasting the move, and the backlash led Fox News to address it on The Big Weekend Show over Labor Day Weekend.

As some considered the romance to be one of the wildest moments in the new game, Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer turned political activist and commentator for Fox, shared a more unusual take on the controversy.

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As they tackled the topic on the show, Gaines, 26, shared that she hoped the in-game romance would help promote real-life romance outside of it for those who play, noting that it could translate to “More babies,” a popular talking point for conservatives.

“I’ll be optimistic and say that hopefully, this transcends into that,” she said. “These online, weird, parasocial relationships, I mean, in this case, a romantic relationship, hopefully these people, particularly men, playing these games realize they like the feeling of love, romantic love, and they’ll go out in the real world and find it.”

“Because I’ll tell you what, we are in a population decline. We need more babies. You can’t have babies, real babies, mouths to feed, from video games. Hopefully this transcends into real-life romantic relationships.”

Riley Gaines shared an unconventional viewpoint on Fox News' Big Weekend Show about GTA 6 including a romance option -Credit:FOX News

However, her remarks were swiftly met with backlash online, as many pointed out that she was attributing a lack of child-bearing to an old-school belief that only men were playing video games, and the kinds that were didn’t have relationships outside of the virtual world.

“Funny though, that the right is so culturally detached, that they still think of 30-year-old losers living in their mom's basement or whatever, when it comes to games,” one person wrote on X. “Like, as if gaming hasn’t already long become mainstream, and no longer a niche sort of subculture.”

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“Why is this chick talking about gamers like it’s still 2006? Lots of gamers have families, girlfriends or are women themselves. The medium is mainstream now,” another said.

Gaines felt an included romance in GTA 6 could led people to have more babies in the real world

Others aimed at the fact that she singled out men, pointing out that they weren’t the ones to carry children.

“Truth bomb. Only women choose who has babies and who doesn’t. When men do, they go to jail,” one person wrote.

However, most pointed out that, like other conservatives, she was pointing to social reasons attributed to declining birth rates and women having children later in life, and ignoring the real economic issues that played a factor in those decisions.

“How can you have babies if you don't have money lol,” one person wrote, while another said, “Trump is destroying the economy so drastically it is literally impossible to have children.

Her comments were met with swift backlash from gamers -Credit:PR Supplied

“Free healthcare, free daycare, affordable housing, good schools, real action on climate change, freedom from want and worry. Then people will have kids,” another added.

The push from conservatives for more people to have babies has seen many moves, including a recent proposal to give stay-at-home parents money that is from funds made for working ones.

It comes as costs have gone up across the board in the last several years, with food, fuel, and home costs all on the rise, as well as healthcare.

Many pointed out that costs for childcare have been skyrocketing, which is contributing to less babies being born -Credit:Getty Images

Childcare costs have also risen astronomically in recent years, with information from the BiPartisan Policy Center showing that expenses have heavily outpaced general inflation, surging 50% post-pandemic, with formal care taking up about 10% of a median dual-income household income and up to 35% for single-parent households.

Additional information: The Economic Policy Institute is expensive in every state, including ones where the costs are lower on paper. According to their data, eight states have annual childcare costs that average under $10,000, while 33 have costs that average somewhere between $10-$20k annually. 10 additional states and territories have costs over $20k annually.

The most expensive childcare in the country, according to their data, is in Washington, D.C. itself, where the average cost is $29,809 annually and $2,484 per month.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”