Hideo Kojima, the legendary video game director, was falsely accused of the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. After the assassination occurred on the 8th of July, Hideo Kojima was falsely accused of it shortly after. Although false information, multiple credible news outlets treated Kojima as being the perpetrator behind Shinzo Abe’s shooting.
A Joke Spiraling Out Of Control
The misinformation seems to have resulted from a joke on a 4-Chan board. It was later spread further when a French comedian picked up the joke and made a tweet calling Kojima Shinzo Abe’s assassin, as well as an “AC Millan legend”. This was an obvious joke, intending to mock the original 4-Chan post. It seems the joke was lost on someone however, as French politician Damien Rieu retweeted the tweet.
Damien Rieu is a far-right French politician, who was the leader of an Islamophobic association which campaigned for white nationalism. As well as being an idiot who can’t treat human beings with respect, it seems as though he’s also an idiot who can’t differentiate between what’s false and what’s real. No surprise there though, as he was the co-founder of the “Génération Identitaire movement“. A man who made falsehoods to put innocent people as his targets, and a person who made up conspiracy theories like they were his coffee, it’s no wonder a man such as himself can’t even tell the difference when he’s so far caught up in his delusions. Along with retweeting the tweet, Rieu also posted various images that “confirmed” Kojima was the real assassin and were “proof” that the far-left kills.
What started as a joke on 4-Chan, got spread as the truth by Rieu, and as a result, a few news outlets, such as a Greek news broadcast, falsely reported Kojima as the assassin. He later apologized for this in a tweet.
J’ai naïvement pris une blague pour une information. Je ne pensais pas qu’on pouvait faire de l’humour sur l’assassinat d’un homme mais j’ai eu tort de ne pas vérifier avant de partager.
Mes excuses à #HideoKojima et aux fans de #MetalGear 🙏🏼 https://t.co/XMSUVY5oGY— Damien Rieu (@DamienRieu) July 8, 2022
Even though Kojima himself has made no statements regarding the matter, Kojima Productions has posted a tweet saying that they do not condone such blatant lies.
#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
It’ll be hard for them to pursue legal action, considering the international nature of the situation. Although I can only imagine the shock you’d feel when a French politician falsely claims you’re the culprit of a recent tragedy, and has news outlets in other countries claim such as well.
