The horror of the internet as death threats come in for ‘just my son’ Lepesen Earth video

On January 18, the members of the men’s underground idol group “13th Moon Plasma” released a statement saying that they had received tens of thousands of slanders and death threats based on factual errors.

On January 18, Shai Jinguji, a member of the men’s underground idol group “Plasmas of the 13th Month,” released a statement on her Twitter page titled “Report and Request to Everyone” under the joint name of her lawyer. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, she revealed that she had even received death threats against her, and if the threats continue, she will take legal action, regardless of whether it is civil or criminal.

What could have happened to a young, still unknown artist to push him to this point?

It all started in June of last year, when the leader of the popular group “Repezen Earth”, President DJ, released a video titled “The real story behind the dissolution of Repezen Earth”.

The relationship between DJ and Mr. H, who had substantial control of the office, deteriorated due to accounting misunderstandings and rights issues, and DJ confessed how he was fired from the board and ran away from the office.

At that time, a member of Repezen claimed that he was paid less than the son of Mr. H who belonged to the same office. That son was Jinguji.

Repezen is charismatic and popular on the Internet, with their public videos having over 10 million views. Even without mentioning his name, it didn’t take long for Mr. H and his son to be identified.

Jinguji still vividly remembers the horror of that moment.

After DJ uploaded the confession video on YouTube, it only took a few days for them to find out who I was. In other words, they found out that I was Mr. H’s son.

From that point on, not only Mr. H, who was in a confrontational relationship with the DJ president, but also his son, the anti-Jinguji attacks increased day by day.

“I received threatening messages such as, ‘It’s over now,’ and ‘You should disappear socially. At first, I received about 10 DMs from unknown accounts, but after my account was exposed on Twitter, fans of Repetzen found it, tweeted about it, and the word spread…”

The number of slanders on Twitter alone exceeded 20,000. The number of slanderous comments exceeded 20,000 on Twitter alone, and the number of critical comments on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, etc. also came in at 10,000.

I didn’t feel like I was alive. I was scared, anxious, and angry. I was scared, anxious, and angry, not so much at DJ, the man who started it all, but at the people who were sending me anti-comments.

On June 4, he responded to the lies and misrepresentations on his Twitter account.

On June 4, he responded to the lies and misrepresentations on Twitter… “That didn’t stop the slander, it only made it more intense. But I couldn’t stand the frustration and the spreading of lies, as I received DMs and replies that hounded me for spreading outright lies.

Things like “high salary” and “bought cars and watches at the company’s expense…” were really not true. My salary was only 100,000 yen a month, and the cars and watches were bought with my father’s personal money…. But I guess their fans didn’t find it interesting that they were paying for it out of Repezen’s profits, even if it was only 100,000 yen.

It was announced in the video that such a dispute between President DJ and Mr. H was settled in court on December 27th last year. Then President DJ said

I’d like you to stop slandering Mr. H and his son.

He said.

In spite of this, there are still people who attack Jinguji on the Internet.

There are still about 10 to 20 people attacking me on the Internet. I’ve already talked with the Repezen side, but they’re still saying things like, ‘Hurry up and give back the money,’ ‘It’s no use living,’ and ‘Hurry up and quit, you scum. …

I felt like, “Why should I be attacked? Even if it’s a lie, if the number of times you tell it is large enough, it will be believed. It becomes like the truth on the Internet. That’s why there are still a dozen or so people who attack me even after the reconciliation, I guess.

Since the internet attacks started, Jinguji has been suffering from heart palpitations, insomnia, loss of appetite, and has lost 7 kilos in weight, at one point dropping to the 40 kilo range. He started going to a psychosomatic doctor in early July last year, and was diagnosed with PTSD two months later. She is still taking sleeping pills and stabilizers.

He said, “The most difficult thing for me was the fact that the blame fell on unrelated parties. The comments were coming from the office, family members, and members. Under the current law, it is very difficult to investigate death threats and slanderous comments made on the Internet, and even if they are caught, the punishment is light. Even if they are caught, the punishment is light, so I guess they are left unchecked.

The psychosomatic medicine doctor told me, “Remove the cause. That’s the only way. I’m gradually getting better. I am able to sleep now, and there are more days when I feel calm and relaxed. Even though it’s on the Internet, slander can leave a big scar on the other person’s heart, so I hope you will think about their feelings before you post anything.

The current turmoil started with a confession made by the DJ president on YouTube. Although Jinguji did not do anything himself, tens of thousands of slanders and death threats came pouring in like a wave. In the Internet society, this is a “fear” that can happen to anyone at any time.