Kojima Productions Threatens Legal Action After Hideo Kojima Is Falsely Linked to Shinzo Abe Assassination

Hideo Kojima's studio, Kojima Productions, is considering legal action after the gaming auteur was falsely linked to the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. For those who aren't huge into video games, Hideo Kojima is a video game developer responsible for the beloved Metal Gear Solid series. It's one of the most renowned franchises in gaming and allowed him to build a name for himself, similar to that of a prestigious film director. He was then given the opportunity to make a new game in the Silent Hill franchise, but it was canceled after the developer began to have conflicts with publisher Konami during the development of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. He went on to make Death Stranding, a hit PlayStation game, and is one of the most respected names in the gaming industry, even getting adoration from big Hollywood names like George Miller and Kanye West.

With all of that said, Hideo Kojima was falsely linked to the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this week. On July 8th, Abe was giving a speech when he was shot by someone with a home made gun. It was claimed on social media and even some news networks that Hideo Kojima was responsible for the assassination. The accusation began on 4Chan (via PCGamer) as a racist joke and then circulated via a now-deleted tweet from French politician Damien Rieu and a Greek news network. Police arrested suspect Tetsuya Yamagami who admitted to shooting Abe. Rieu has apologized, but Hideo Kojima's studio, Kojima Productions, has stated it condemns fake news and does not tolerate libel. The developer also stated it's considering legal action, but didn't specify who it would be against specifically.

#KojimaProductions strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumors that convey false information. We do not tolerate such libel and will consider taking legal action in some cases. pic.twitter.com/fDi0FR9kB0

— KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (Eng) (@KojiPro2015_EN) July 9, 2022

In a now deleted tweet, French far-right politician Damien Rieu accused the far-left of murdering Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and used photos of game developer Hideo Kojima instead of pictures of the current suspect Tetsuya Yamagami pic.twitter.com/2zpmL5kVnD

— Nox Dawn 🐸 (@NoxDawn) July 8, 2022

Hideo Kojima is typically very active on Twitter, but has not commented on the matter on any of his personal social media pages. The beloved game developer is currently working on a new untitled game with Xbox. It is also believed to be working on a sequel to Death Stranding with actor Norman Reedus, but it has yet to be confirmed.