Kojima Productions threatens legal action against Hideo Kojima claimants involved in Shinzo Abe assassination
Following a racist joke linking Hideo Kojima to the assassination of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Kojima Productions threatened legal action against those who contributed to “spreading fake news and spreading rumors misinformation download.”
Kojima Productions tweeted its statement earlier today, July 9, saying it “strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumors that convey disinformation. We do not tolerate smears. such blasphemy and will consider legal action in some cases.”
In a now-deleted tweet, French far-right politician Damien Rieu accused the leftist side of killing Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and used a photo of game developer Hideo Kojima instead of the current suspect. at Tetsuya Yamagami. pic.twitter.com/2zpmL5kVnD
– Nox Dawn (@NoxDawn) July 8, 2022
According to the report of PC gamers, the reason for this statement comes from a racist joke that seems to start on 4Chan (shocking, I know) saying that Kojima is the killer behind Abe’s death, Former Prime Minister of Japan who was killed while giving a campaign speech for the upcoming election on Friday, July 8.
Abe was shot twice and died at a hospital, and a suspect named Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested at the scene and admitted to shooting the former Prime Minister.
This so-called joke was picked up by a French comedian in a Tweet mocking the situation and by a French far-right politician named Damien Rieu, who has connections to the Génération Identitaire movement he has known. I co-founded reposted. Rieu took the joke as fact and started spreading it.
The Greek news channel uses an image of Hideo Kojima wearing a Soviet tunic, Joker t-shirt and standing next to a photo of Che Guevara – saying he is Shinzo Abe’s assassin!? pic.twitter.com/JiwZKtA7pJ
– The Kavernacle (@TheKavernacle) July 8, 2022
Despite all the indications that this was clearly some kind of sick joke, images falsely linking Kojima to the assassination appeared “in an Iranian newspaper and as part of the Greek news broadcasts.”
Rieu has since apologized, but the damage has been done. Now, Kojima Productions is doubling down and letting those out there know that this is not something to joke about and that legal action will be taken under certain circumstances if any of this defamation is against Hideo Kojima continued.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and more Convulsions.
