After the assassination of Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister, the images quickly spread on social networks. With technology and a globalized world, seconds after the attack, hundreds of people had already seen the videos.
(Keep reading: Tetsuya Yamagami, suspect in Abe’s assassination, begins investigation).
Amidst the chaos in Japan, a fake news story came out involving Hideo Kojima, one of the most successful video game directors in the world. A user on Twitter joked that the assassin of the former prime minister looked like Kojima.
What started as a joke ended as a nightmare for the Japanese. A far-right French politician named Damien Rieu believed the lie and posted a tweet against Kojima on his social media.
The post, which has since been deleted, was a collage of photos of the Japanese game maker with captions reading “The far left kills.”
Rieu has already apologized for falling into misinformation and uploaded a trill asking for excuses for his mistake.
“I naively took a joke as information. I didn’t think we could do humor about the murder of a man but I was wrong not to review before sharing. My apologies to #Hideo Kojima and #Metal Gear fans,” the politician wrote.
The situation did not end there because thousands of people had already seen the Frenchman’s publications and believed what he said. A media outlet in Greece took up Rieu’s words and broadcast a newscast with images of Hideo Kojima as the murderer of Shinzo Abe.
(We recommend: Japanese police admit flaws in Abe’s security device.)
J’ai naïvement pris une blague pour un information. Je ne pensais pas qu’on pouvait faire de l’humor sur l’assassinat d’un homme mais j’ai eu tort de ne pas verifier avant de partager.
month excuses to #hideokojima et aux fans of #MetalGear 🙏🏼 https://t.co/XMSUVY5oGY— Damien Rieu (@DamienRieu) July 8, 2022
Hideo Kojima’s response
Given the controversy unleashed by the false news, the Japanese was forced to issue a statement from the account of Kojima Productionsthe director’s animation studio.
In the document, Kojima condemned the rumors and stated that he is considering taking legal action over the defamation of his name.
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