WTF?! Kojima Productions is considering taking legal action after a story claiming its founder, video game legend Hideo Kojima, was the assassin of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The country's longest-serving PM was shot twice on Friday while giving a campaign speech. He died after being rushed to the hospital. The shooter was later identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami.

As reported by PC Gamer, claims that Kojima was responsible for the shooting originated on 4chan's /pol/ politically incorrect board after a user posted an image suggesting the Metal Gear Solid creator was the perpetrator. Another user then posted pictures of Kojima wearing a Russian fur hat, standing next to a photo of Che Guevara, and one of him holding a Guevara bag and wearing a Joker T-Shirt.

That might have been the end of it, but French comedian Georges Jordito tweeted the images as part of a satirical post. It was meant as a joke, but far-right French politician Damien Rieu seemingly thought it was serious and tweeted the pictures with text that translated to "The far-left kills." Greek and Iranian news outlets then used the images in their coverage of the assassination.

Bravo pour ta connerie en tout cas, Damien doit être content 🤣 pic.twitter.com/sTRavBF682

— AntoineD (@AntoinoD_) July 8, 2022

Rieu later apologized with a tweet that read, "I naively took a joke for information. I didn't think people would make jokes about the assassination of a man but I was wrong not to verify before sharing. My apologies to Hideo Kojima and to the fans of Metal Gear."

#KojimaProductions strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumors that convey false information. We do not tolerate such libel and will consider taking legal action in some cases. pic.twitter.com/fDi0FR9kB0

— KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (Eng) (@KojiPro2015_EN) July 9, 2022

The Greek and Iranian news outlets have since removed/corrected reports that included the images of Kojima. Kojima Productions responded to the false claims with a tweet that reads: "#KojimaProductions strongly condemns the spread of fake news and rumors that convey false information. We do not tolerate such libel and will consider taking legal action in some cases." It never said who might face the wrath of its legal team, but despite his apology, Rieu is probably sweating right now.