Prominent Japanese professional Tekken player Kana Tani a.k.a. “Tanukana” has lost her place on the Osaka-based esports team Cyclops Athlete Gaming after a remark about men's height she made during one of her streams.
According to video game website Kotaku, on 15 February Tanukana said during a stream that “men who are under 170 cm don’t have human rights”, and that they should consider bone-lengthening surgery.
As the media outlet pointed out, citing Healthline, the average height for men in Japan is only 170.8 cm.
As Tanukana's remarks evoked a backlash online, she reportedly responded in a since-deleted tweet “It was pointed out to my that my stream contained hate speech,”and argued that it wasn't her intent as she was merely trying to express her love of tall people.
She subsequently offered a more formal apology, saying on Twitter: “I have deep remorse for this statement, which is unbecoming of a pro esports athlete and a member of society.”
“We’ve confirmed that on February 15, Tanukana, who is a member of Cyclops Athlete Gaming, made an improper remark on a stream. Regarding this matter, we would like to offer a deep apology to the fans, sponsors, and everyone else who supports us,” Cyclops Athlete Gaming said in an apology of their own.
Later, however, the team announced that Tanukana's contract has been terminated.
The media outlet also notes that the Japanese world for human rights, jinken, is also a gamer slang term that “refers to an item or character that all players need to have”, though the slang use of this word “isn’t widely known in Japan”.
Following Tanukana's dismissal, Cyclops Athlete Gaming also fired another member, the team's Call of Duty manager Kbaton; while no reason for this dismissal has been immediately provided, Kotaku suggested that it was related to “a number of tweets with homophobic and ableist slurs” Kbaton made “on repeated occasions”.