Go Tokyo Your Experience
34-year-old Yuya Tegoshi, formerly a member of Johnny’s group “NEWS,” has been embroiled in numerous scandals in recent years, causing dissatisfaction among the Johnny’s executives, leading to a suspension. Tegoshi voluntarily left NEWS in June two years ago and has since been active as a YouTuber and pursuing a solo music career.
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Recently, Tegoshi was invited to participate in a live broadcast for the RIZIN Fighting Federation, where the CEO personally invited him to sing the Japanese national anthem at the “Super RIZIN.3” event on the 28th. Tegoshi gladly accepted, but the decision met with strong opposition from two competitors. Today (22nd), RIZIN announced that due to cyberbullying and defamation, Tegoshi decided to step down from the performance, and his arrangement to sing the anthem was canceled.
On the 20th, RIZIN fighter Mikuru Asakura stated that he preferred to go straight into the match without the national anthem segment; another fighter, Ren Hiramoto, explicitly stated, “I do not want Tegoshi to sing the anthem.” Facing the escalation of the incident, RIZIN admitted today that it failed to fully explain the situation to the fighters, leading to their backlash and consequently, the online attacks and insults towards Tegoshi. RIZIN took responsibility and apologized to Tegoshi and his fans.
Following emergency discussions with Tegoshi, he expressed his intention to enhance the atmosphere at the event but agreed to step down if the fighters felt the anthem was unnecessary. RIZIN also called for an end to the attacks on Tegoshi and will arrange refunds for fans who had paid in advance to watch Tegoshi’s live performance of the anthem.