Pro Gamer Fired After Saying Short Men ‘Don’t Have Human Rights’

Tanukana, a professional Tekken player from Osaka, was kicked off of Cyclops Athlete Gaming’s roster after making disparaging remarks regarding men’s height on a livestream. It competes in first-person shooting games like PUBG, Call of Duty, and Rainbow Six Siege as well as fighting games like Tekken. This footage from the Kobe Shimbun newspaper is only one example of her appearances in mainstream Japanese media.

According to Tanukana’s comments on a February 15 stream, “Men under 170 cm (5 ft 6.9 in) do not have human rights.” According to her, obtaining a bone-lengthening procedure is something they should consider. For men in Japan, the national average height is 170.8 cm, or 5 ft 7.2 in. Human rights are referred to as jinken () in Japanese. However, jinken is a term used in video games to describe a character or object that is required by every player. There has been some discussion on Twitter about whether Tanukana’s comment was influenced by the lingo.

No of how it was taken, the comment sparked outrage among Japan’s online community and was widely covered by Yahoo! News. According to Tanukana in a now-deleted tweet, “My feed featured hate speech.” She said that this was not her aim and that she had misspoken her admiration for tall people. It wasn’t the type of formal apology we’ve come to expect in Japan, but she did apologize.

‘We’ve confirmed that on February 15th, Tanukana, who is a member of Cyclops Athlete Gaming, made an unacceptable statement on a stream,‘ Cyclops wrote in an apology. Fans, sponsors, and everyone else who has supported us in any way are really sorry about this.

Tanukana also issued an official apology to the team’s supporters and Red Bull, the team’s official sponsor, in a follow-up tweet. It was Tanukana’s comment that Tanukana was “very remorseful” over, according to Tanukana.

In Japan, the term “pro gamer” has been formally established, and there exist licences for professional gamers. According to the Japan Esports Union, “self-awareness of being a professional” is one of the most important characteristics of a professional player. In an apparent attempt to elevate the status of exports professionals in Japan, this requirement was included in the original proposal. But in reality, the solution is far more straightforward. Among the advertisers on Tanukana’s Cyclops page were Alienware and Red Bull. All of her sponsors were removed from her Facebook profile following the issue.

If things appear to be exaggerated, sponsors don’t want to be associated with them. Sponsors are essential to the success of a team. This was a situation where something had to give, and it did. Tanukana’s contract with Cyclops was eventually cancelled.