Marty O’Donnell, the legendary composer for the video game series Halo who is now running for Congress as a Republican, has been forced to find an alternative venue after the initial host backed out of the arrangement due to O’Donnell’s political affiliation.
🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨
— Marty O'Donnell (@MartyTheElder) August 21, 2026
25 years ago, I held the first ever Halo LAN party at my house. My campaign is now working to put on an old school Halo LAN tournament in Las Vegas! With all the OG consoles, games, and cables.
We wanted to hold this event at the HyperX Arena— but they… pic.twitter.com/2Ihwx1ADgv
To meet with supporters and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first installment of the Halo series, O’Donnell organized a LAN party at the HyperX arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Shortly after agreeing to host the event, the venue backed out, citing O’Donnell’s "political affiliations."
“All of a sudden we got this strange lawyer-looking letter from them,” O’Donnell told Fox News Digital. “They said that they needed to reject our plans to use this venue for this fun, fan-oriented Halo event because of our ‘political affiliations.'"
“Suddenly, it seems like I’m being canceled for being a Republican running for Congress,” O’Donnell continued. “There’s no reason why we can’t rent a nice hall some place, and get some couches and some chairs, and set up some good ol’ Xboxes.”
O’Donnell says that being canceled won’t stop him, and that he will move forward with the venue someplace else. His team has asked that anyone interested in participating in the event, whether as a player or spectator, RSVP to help gauge interest and to receive up-to-date information on ticketing.
TLDR: The cancel mob thinks they've won.
— Jonas J. Campbell (@JonasJCampbell) August 21, 2026
Earlier this year, I got a phone call from legendary Halo composer Marty O'Donnell to ask me if I thought I could get ahold of some old school Xboxes. Like... A LOT of them. Not knowing if I could, I went ahead and said yes.
Since then,… pic.twitter.com/55s67LtVvs
The move by the HyperX arena isn’t the first time “Woke 2.0” has come for the Republican candidate. Just weeks ago, O’Donnell was the target of a cancel culture campaign that resulted in his removal from a Halo Reunion event in Sacramento, California due to complaints from progressive staffers.
O’Donnell will face off against Democrat incumbent Susie Lee for control of Nevada’s Third District during the November election.
