<figure id="attachment_384220" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-384220" style="width: 2426px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="56abeb09"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/07/25ccc4c72700c04f5870b4e3b4fbd497.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-384220" class="wp-caption-text">Former &#8220;NEWS&#8221; member Yuya Tegoshi was scheduled to sing the national anthem at the &#8220;Mirai Asakura vs. Ren Hiramoto&#8221; match, the centerpiece of the RIZIN event. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
 Former &#8220;NEWS&#8221; member Yuya Tegoshi was involved in an unexpected &#8220;accident.
 He was scheduled to sing the national anthem at the martial arts event &#8220;Cho-RIZIN.3&#8221; on July 28, but the players were reluctant to do so, so Tegoshi himself asked to withdraw from singing the anthem.
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 The main attraction of the event was the match-up between Mirai Asakura and Ren Hiramoto, and when the RIZIN management announced that Tekashi would sing the national anthem at the match, Asakura replied in an X
 I thank the management for their thoughtfulness in making the event more exciting.
 Asakura posted, &#8220;Please don&#8217;t sing the national anthem before the match. His opponent, Ren Hiramoto, posted the following,
 I don&#8217;t want the national anthem and I don&#8217;t want to hear Mirai Asakura&#8217;s &#8220;Kimi ga irareta&#8221; (I want to hear Mirai Asakura&#8217;s &#8220;If you&#8217;re there&#8221;).
 (now deleted). In addition, he sent a DM to Tekashi
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 I&#8217;m Ren Hiramoto and I watched Itte Q. It was fun. Please stop playing the national anthem. Please withdraw even now. The story will sag because of you. I am a fan and I don&#8217;t want to hate you. Please absolutely withdraw from the national anthem, thank you.
 and sent it to him, which he published on Instagram Stories.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Legal experts on the possibility of defamation against Tekashi..."></div>
The management then canceled the national anthem on the 23rd and apologized to Tekashi.
 An industry insider with behind-the-scenes knowledge said, &#8220;It is unprecedented for a martial arts event to cancel the national anthem.
 It is unprecedented for the national anthem to be canceled at a martial arts event. It is unprecedented for a martial arts event to cancel the singing of the national anthem. However, this time, Asakura and Hiramoto made a strong request. It could be said that it was an oversight on the part of the management, but it is a very difficult thing to do,&#8221; said Asakura.
 Asakura and Hiramoto made a strong request only this time.
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 In the midst of all this, it was Tekashi who raised his stock. On the occasion of his resignation
 The matches and the players are the main players. I took the job with the hope that I could help liven things up a bit. But if that is not what they want, then I would like to decline to sing the national anthem this time.
 Still, I will continue to pay attention to the matches between Mirai Asakura and Hiramoto, and I wish them both the best in their games.
 He also said that he would like them to have the best match. In response to this, the Internet commented
 《You should thank Tekashi for being an adult about this.
 He&#8217;s so cool.
 and &#8220;cool.
 Tekashi left the former Johnny&#8217;s office in 2008 and has since been active mainly on YouTube. He has been performing as a singer, but he has not been able to take advantage of the &#8220;demand for Johnny&#8217;s quitting Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; due to the dismantling of the former Johnny&#8217;s office.
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 While other talents who left the office as Tekashi did, such as Tomohisa Yamashita, Ryo Nishikido, Hitoshi Akanishi, and others from TOBE, of which Hideaki Takizawa is president, have been very active on TV and in commercials, Tekashi seems to have been left behind.
 He is still working in a small way, but he is not a member of the Minzoku group. Although he does have some minor work, he continues to be ignored by commercial key stations and major clients.
 He is not concerned about it, saying that he is making more money than when he was with Johnny&#8217;s, but his fans would love to see him on the big stage again. However, the fact that he stepped down without complaining this time shows his &#8220;good nature,&#8221; and it is a chance for him to redeem himself.
 If Tekashi&#8217;s behavior in the RIZIN event makes people re-evaluate him, who knows what will happen in the future? However, there is no doubt that he was &#8220;red-shamed.
 The two athletes who opposed the national anthem on the Internet and posted their opposition on social media, which triggered the cancellation of the event, as well as those who slandered Tekashi, were they not guilty of defamation? Lawyer Ayao Masaki, representative of the law firm &#8220;Your Ace,&#8221; points out, &#8220;Defamation is not a criminal offense under the law.
 Criminal defamation is defined as &#8220;openly revealing a fact and defaming a person&#8217;s reputation&#8221; (Article 230, Paragraph 1 of the Penal Code). Mr. Asakura&#8217;s and Mr. Hiramoto&#8217;s statements in this case do not reveal any facts, but merely express their own feelings, and thus do not constitute criminal defamation.
 Next, civil defamation refers to the right to claim damages based on tort (Civil Code Article 709), which provides for the obligation to compensate for &#8220;intentional or negligent infringement of another&#8217;s rights or legally protected interests,&#8221; and &#8220;reputation&#8221; is also considered a &#8220;legally protected interest&#8221; (Article 709). &#8220;Reputation&#8221; is also considered a &#8220;legally protected interest&#8221; (see Articles 710 and 723 of the same law). Judicial precedents indicate that whether something is defamatory or not does not depend on whether one feels that one&#8217;s reputation has been damaged, but rather on whether one has said something that would lower the reputation of the person by others. Since Mr. Asakura&#8217;s and Mr. Hiramoto&#8217;s statements were, after all, merely expressing their own feelings and not undermining the objective evaluation of Mr. Tekashi, defamation is not considered to have been established.
 The feeling of being defamed is protected to some extent, and any act that infringes on such feelings of honor beyond the socially acceptable limit can be illegal. However, it is difficult to say that Mr. Asakura&#8217;s and Mr. Hiramoto&#8217;s comments in this case go that far. What is rather problematic are the comments of those on the Internet who took advantage of the situation to slander and defame Mr. Tekashi, and moderation is required in their criticism of Asakura and Hiramoto.
 Tekashi has been in the spotlight for quite some time. Will he be able to &#8220;turn a disaster into a blessing&#8221;?

 Comment: Ayao Masaki, Attorney at Law 
Representative of the law firm Your Ace. He is a member of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association. He handles a wide range of civil and criminal cases, including consumer disputes, debt, divorce, labor issues, inheritance, and traffic accidents.
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 He appears regularly on BAYFM&#8217;s <a href="https://your-ace.or.jp/radio/">&#8220;Yukki</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@your-ace">&#8216;</a><a href="https://your-ace.or.jp/radio/">s Can Can do it!&#8221;</a> and has appeared on numerous news and information programs and other media outlets. 
Your Ace Lawyers official website: <a href="https://your-ace.or.jp/">https://your-ace.or.jp/</a>
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 Kazuhiko NAKAMURA

 Former "NEWS" member Yuya Tegoshi was scheduled to sing the national anthem at the "Super RIZIN.3" martial arts event on July 28, but he had to cancel the event due to opposition from the competitors.

Yuya Tegoshi&#8217;s &#8220;declining to sing the national anthem&#8221; was praised for his mature response&#8230; &#8220;Just don&#8217;t do it,&#8221; Hiramoto Ren and Mirai Asakura&#8217;s &#8220;responsibility for speaking up.&#8221;

Yuya Tegoshi’s “declining to sing the national anthem” was praised for his mature response… “Just don’t do it,” Hiramoto Ren and Mirai Asakura’s “responsibility for speaking up.”

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