Hideo Kojima has been the victim of a huge fake news accusing him of having assassinated the former Japanese Prime Minister. Unfortunately, it circulated in some media and was worn by a figure of the French extreme right. The famous creator of video games had to defend himself.The studio he runs has said he is considering filing a complaint.
On Friday, July 8, for a few hours, several people believed that Hideo Kojima, famous creator of video games (the Metal Gear saga, death stranding), was the author of the assassination of Shinzo Abe – former Japanese Prime Minister. This was particularly the case of Damien Rieu. The former candidate Reconquest! in the legislative elections was taken in by an act of racist trolling, articulated around Hideo Kojima.
Far-right affiliate Damien Rieu retweeted photos of Hideo Kojima with far-left symbols (portraits of Che Guevara), along with the comment “ The far left kills — in response to a tribute from Clémentine Autain. If he deleted his publication after discovering his error, some did not forget to take a screenshot – like David Guiraud, deputy for the 8th district of the North.
No, Hideo Kojima didn’t kill Shinzo Abe
Damien Rieu, who quickly apologized, explaining that he had taken “ a joke for information » (a shame for a whistleblower), is not the only one to have fallen into the trap. As Kotaku points out in an article published on July 8, the Greek television channel ANT TV1 squarely aired a story about the murder of Shinjo Abe, using photos of Hideo Kojima rather than those of the real killer — Tetsuya Yamagami, which was quickly identified.
Who is behind this troll? A named Georges Jordito in any case shared the false information on his French account. ” Shinzo Abe’s killer is far-left activist Samyuero Hydeo “he first published, before sinking into his hoax:” It’s a joke guys, the guy in the photo is Keisuke Honda, AC Milan midfielder… This false information, based on racist “humor” (Asians all look alike…), backfired. ” Earlier, I posted a photo of the creator of Metal Gear, explaining that it is Kesuke Honda, AC Milan player and assassin of Shinzo Abe. The real ones understood that it was a valve, but it was a valve, guys he said. defended. He was probably unaware that it would get so big and that some public figures would take it seriously.
The fake news was obviously not to the tastes of Kojima Productions. July 9the Hideo Kojima-led studio said, “ Kojima Production strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumors that lead to false information. We do not tolerate such defamation and will consider legal action in certain cases. In short, we really have to stop with the very ugly gags on the internet, as implausible as they may be.