A professional Tekken player has been fired from the Japanese esports team Cyclops Athlete Gaming, for comments she made about men’s heights on stream. Tanukana is apparently a fan of taller men, but unfortunately didn’t go about saying that in quite the right way, because she’s left a number of fans understandably upset.
As reported by Kotaku, during a stream on 15 February, Tanukana said, “Men who are under 170 cm don’t have human rights.” For my fellow imperial system users, that’s just under 5 ft 7 inches. Sorry, short kings. She also apparently added that men under that height should look into getting bone-lengthening surgery. Is that a thing? Please don’t actually do that.
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Apparently, the average height for men in Japan is about 5ft 7.5 inches (cheers, Wikipedia), so you can see why the streamer left so many viewers feeling a bit hurt. In a tweet that’s since been deleted, Tanukana apologised: “It was pointed out to me that my stream contained hate speech.” She explained that she wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, and that it had all stemmed from her poorly phrasing her love for tall people.
The streamer’s esports team, Cyclops, also published an apology: “We’ve confirmed that on February 15, Tanukana, who is a member of Cyclops Athlete Gaming, made an improper remark on a stream,” they wrote (as translated by Kotaku). “Regarding this matter, we would like to offer a deep apology to the fans, sponsors, and everyone else who supports us.”
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Tanukana has since apologised yet again on Twitter for her comments: “I am very sorry to all the fans who support me on a daily basis, to all the sponsors such as Red Bull, [for] my selfish remarks,” she wrote (as translated by Google). “I take it seriously that my remarks during the [stream were] unacceptable and that my lack of awareness has led to it. There is no excuse for disappointing you in this matter. As a professional esports player and as a member of society, I deeply regret and apologise for betraying you.”
At this time, it doesn’t seem super likely that Tanukana will be invited back onto the team any time soon. You win this round, short kings.