Hideo Kojima’s game studio has issued a response after fake posts circulated across social media and news outlets that misidentified Kojima as the assassin of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Tweet, Kojima Productions says it “strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumors that convey false information” and “will consider taking legal action in some cases.”
Friday: A man Abe was shot and killed during his speechAt a political rally. Police later identified the shooter as Tetsuya Yogami, 41 years old.
Soon after the incident, an internet trolling bot was discovered on 4chan Posted a racist photo that links Kojima’s face with that of the shooter (via PCGamer). A third user responded to the post by adding three more photos of Kojima, which show the Metal Gear Death StrandingDesigner wearing a Soviet cap. Also, posing with images Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara.
French comedian Georges Jordito later reshared these images on Twitter as part of a now-deleted “satirical” post that said the culprit was Japanese soccer star Keisuke Honda. However, Damien Rieu, a far-right French politician associated with the country’s nationalist movement, took it seriously and Images of Kojima were tweeted with text translated to: “The far-left kills.” As pointed out by ViceThe images were then retrieved by GreekIranian news outlets, who mistakenly used these pictures in their coverage.
Greek news channel using pictures of Hideo Kojima wearing a Soviet ushanka, Joker t-shirt and standing next to a photo of Che Guevara – saying he’s Shinzo Abe’s assassin!? pic.twitter.com/JiwZKtA7pJ
— The Kavernacle (@TheKavernacle) July 8, 2022
Rieu deleted his tweet since then. Issued an apology to Kojima, noting “I naively took a joke for information.” The Greek outlet, which included an image of Kojima in a broadcast, took its segment off of YouTube, while the Iranian newspaper Image has also been correctedIt was used in the report.
