The official English Twitter account for Kojima Productions issued a statement condemning the spreading of fake news. This tweet follows far-right French politician Damien Rieu’s Tweet on Friday that falsely identified Hideo Kojima as Shinzo Abe’s alleged assassin. The statement also announced that the company would pursue legal action for the incident. Followed by the English post, a statement in Japanese followed.
#KojimaProductions strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumors that convey false information. We do not tolerate such libel and will consider taking legal action in some cases. pic.twitter.com/fDi0FR9kB0
— KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (Eng) (@KojiPro2015_EN) July 9, 2022
Riu previously shared a tweet that condemned the far left for the assassination of Shinzo Abe. The incident in question took place during a campaign speech in Nara on Friday. He posted a meme in response to another post that showed three images of Kojima. Two of the images showed him with Argentine Marxist and Revolutionary Che Guevara. One featured him with a tote bag displaying the image, while the other showed Kojima posing with a framed art piece.
The Spark to Ignite: Kojima Caught Up In More Fake News
While many quickly pointed out the error in the Tweets, it did not stop the fake news about Hideo Kojima from spreading quickly. A new segment on the Greek news station ANT1 TV showed the same images of Kojima. They then went on to call him the alleged killer of Shinzo Abe. After many pointed out the misidentification once again, the station removed the video from their Youtube channel.
Currently, Rieu serves as the Parliamentary Assistant of the French far-right European MP. He is also one of the founding members of the anti-immigration group Generation Identity. The group is now shut down due to many violent attacks and crimes that led to the arrest of several members.
Police arrested 41-year-old suspect Tetsuya Yamagami for the murder of Shinzo Abe. NHK reported that Yamagami was a member of the Japanese Maritime Defense Force. Other news reports stated that the gun used in the assassination was homemade, but police have not confirmed this information yet.
As of now, Hideo Kojima has not responded to any false statements or fake news.
