Some politicians and news networks have been circulating images of Hideo Kojima, developer of the “Metal Gear” franchise, and misidentifying him as Tetsuya Yamagami, who was apprehended earlier Friday for the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Images of Yamagami, a Nara resident, began circulating online after the shooting. Some Twitter users joked that the suspected assassin bore a resemblance to critically acclaimed game developer Kojima. Damien Rieu, a far-right French politician, retweeted images of Kojima with the comment “The far-left kills.” The tweet has since been deleted, but screenshots of the blunder were taken prior to deletion.
Rieu also retweeted a post of Kojima standing next to an image of Che Guevara with the comment “The assassin of Shinzo Abe is Samyuero Hydeo, extreme left activist.”
Images of Kojima were also shown on the ANT1 TV Greece News Channel on youtube.com. Right-wing politicians and news networks are attempting to connect the killer to left-wing ideals and figures like Guevara based on the images of Kojima. A number of Iranian news agencies including Mashregh News have also published images of Kojima in connection with Abe’s assassination.
Kojima is not a suspect. Online comparisons of Kojima to Yamagami appear to be based on racist ideas that people of Asian descent all look the same. The suspect, Yamagami, has been apprehended along with the homemade firearm used to assassinate Abe.
By BHIT YOON