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Death Stranding Creator Hideo Kojima Misidentified As Shinzo Abe's Assassin

Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima was misidentified as Shinzo Abe's assassin by a Greek news station due to misinformation.
Death Stranding Creator Hideo Kojima Misidentified As Shinzo Abe's Assassin

On 8th July 2022, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed in an assassination at a campaign event outside a train station. According to reports, the suspect, who is now in custody, pulled out a handmade gun and began firing at the politician.

Shinzo’s death still rings terror after his assassination, and the world mourns the loss of one of the longest-serving Japanese prime ministers in history. But in a recent report by Kotaku, vile people online have been using this moment to share misinformation and racist remarks.

Hideo Kojima Misidentified As Shinzo Abe’s Assassin

Hideo Kojima and Shinzo Abe
Hideo Kojima created Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding. (Picture: Hideo Kojima)

Following the announcement of Shinzo’s death, the internet's darkest parts and most trashy people seized the opportunity to share images of Hideo Kojima, the creator of Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid. They stated how similar he looked to Shinzo Abe’s assassin.

With these racist posts continuing to trend, it eventually reached Twitter, where far-right French politician Damien Rieu retweeted the image of Kojima with a comment translating, “the extreme left kills.” 

Damien deleted the posts later on; however, the damage was already done as the disgusting joke continued to fester on Twitter. News and media sites later picked up these misinformed posts, resulting in reporting of the wrong person online.

A Greek news station aired the images of Kojima in correlation to Shinzo’s death and the assassination. As a result, Kojima was misidentified as the killer on live television. Fortunately, the video has since been removed to avoid spreading further misinformation about the incident.

Hideo Kojima
Hideo Kojima is a world-recognized game designer and developer. (Picture: Hideo Kojima)

Still, some people online, including the news station, are mistakenly connecting the killer to Che Guevera based entirely on one of the photos of Kojima showing him standing next to an image of the Cuban revolutionary leader. But none of these posts, photos, or reports are true.

Because of dark, racist, and disgusting online jokes, Shinzo’s death has been transformed into a series of misinformed flaming trashbags of posts, which led those without knowledge of the assassination to believe vile internet stunts.

So to clarify, Kojima isn’t the assassin behind the former Japanese prime minister’s death. According to The Guardian, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested for the murder of Shinzo Abe after reportedly confessing to the crime, saying he "was frustrated with the former prime minister and targeted Abe with the intention of killing him."

We are otherwise saddened by the news of Shinzo Abe's passing and extend our condolences to his family during this moment of tragedy.

For more related content, check out our section dedicated to more TV news, updates, guides, leaks, and more.

 

Featured image courtesy of Hideo Kojima / Kojima Productions.