Hideo Kojima Misidentified As Shinzo Abe Assassin By Politician And News Channel

This report contains details some readers may find upsetting.

On 8 July, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated whilst delivering a speech in the Japanese city of Nara. Abe was shot twice by his assailant and later died in hospital.

A 41-year-old suspect by the name of Tetsuya Yamagami is now in police custody after allegedly admitting to police that he’d shot Abe with a homemade gun due to a grudge against a “specific organisation” that he believed Abe was a part of. Naturally, the shocking events have garnered attention around the world but some news organisations and politicians have been sharing photos of visionary game developer Hideo Kojima after a racist ‘joke’ led to a sequence of misidentifications.

Despite the abhorrent nature of the attack on Abe, several inappropriate and racist ‘jokes’ were made online with many comparing Kojima’s appearance to that of the assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami. The ‘joke’ quickly spread across social media, where photos of Kojima were used in connection with the events.

Far-right French politician Damien Rieu retweeted photos of Kojima with a comment that roughly translated to “The extreme left kills.” Later, Rieu deleted his tweets which seems to suggest that he realised his error. Unfortunately, the tweets had already led to further misuses of Kojima’s appearance.

Greek news outlet ANT1 aired images of Kojima during a broadcast on the Abe assassination. As translated by Kotaku, an ANT1 news anchor said, “Tetsuya has confessed to his actions to the police, admitting that he wanted Abe dead because he was disappointed and upset with him,” as photos of Kojima were simultaneously broadcast on TV. The video has since been taken down from ANT1’s various channels.

If it isn’t already obvious, Kojima is in no way related to the attacks. The misidentification was caused by a wholly offensive ‘joke.’ Hideo Kojima has yet to comment on the string of misidentifications.