How Politics Can Be a Poisoned Chalice For Online Celebrities

DISCLAIMER: This article is not intended to express bias or criticism toward any political entity or current issues hereof.

Celebrities are prone to political statements due to the prevailing existence of political propaganda regardless of the said celebrity’s region. In many cases, stating one’s political views would lead to their fame being tarnished, or in extreme cases, losing their jobs or even lives.

Many work hard to build successful businesses and careers and spread their influence all over the world, but sometimes one scandal can cause them to lose their dream. The Chinese market is particularly different than the rest of the world. Foreign businesses wishing to enter the Chinese market have to know that just like visiting any foreign country, they must play by their rules. Breaching one of those lines will result in a pretty hefty price to pay. This has happened before in multiple cases:

• Hololive talents Kiryu Coco (alumnus) and Akai Haato were suspended for 3 weeks for accidentally mentioning a geopolitical dispute involving China and its neighboring regions when they were actually talking about their channels’ viewerships. As a result from the controversy this garnered, Hololive withdrew completely from the Chinese market.
• Wrestler and actor John Cena was involved in a similar geopolitical controversy when he was talking about box office revenue for a film he took part in.
• Lady Gaga and Katy Perry were involved in many political controversies involving Chinese politics, which led to both of them getting banned from that region’s market.

If a beloved celebrity got into a controversy involving politics, they only have two choices to make: Retire for good in the grief of their fans, or apologize to the public at the cost of their image getting tarnished forever. Some celebrities cannot take the pressure of being under siege by the press for something controversial they have done, and many of these have committed suicide due to being overwhelmed by the so-called “cancel-culture” by the public.

From the viewpoints of Drillimation Systems and Studio Emiko

Emiko Hosokawa of Studio Emiko herself has stated that she’s largely apolitical (but can sometimes be anti-political) as a celebrity and Internet personality. She proposes that the entertainment industry should refrain from all political topics, in the wake of the slew of celebrity controversies regarding politics.

Drillimation Systems, in the past, was completely different. In the Chuhou Joutai trilogy, politics plays a major role in these games’ stories. Drillimation may eventually remake the trilogy without having politics being a major part of the plot as some content in these games are biased. If Drillimation thought ignoring political rules was a good idea, it’s wrong.

Studio Emiko was the reason Drillimation was proved wrong. Ever since Drillimation begun doing business with Studio Emiko, which is based in Vietnam, the company had to shift gears in order to be compliant with that country’s rules. Although the Vietnamese constitution guarantees free speech, this does not apply to those who may express biased views, regardless of who they’re targeting.

Players around the world have their own viewpoints on various issues. It is not Drillimation’s role to adjudicate these differences. Starting in Touhou Meijinka ~ Song of Divine Tempest, Drillimation Systems completely changed their stance to a position that is not biased or partisan toward any person or organization. This change will also be applied to future releases starting with Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria which is scheduled to officially release on Steam in two weeks. In fact, it is very difficult to connect the lines to what people in their home and target markets want.

In addition, within Studio Emiko’s (upcoming) VTuber group project KALEIDOLOGIA PLIVE, there’s a rule stating that any users of the services provided by the group, regardless of being a talent, staff member, or just a normal user of the group’s social media services, should refrain from all political topics in their activities.

This policy is added in the wake of various controversies mentioned above are stated to be caused by inadvertently mention political topics (either directly or indirectly) in information published by a third party, such as channel analytics, box office revenue, or the audience / fans’ side themselves. Drillimation followed suit by amending their Game Content and Brand Usage Rules that prohibit sponsors that promote any political campaigns or agenda.