After reports surfaced about how the company is involved with the image board 4chan, Good Smile Company released an official statement denying their involvement with 4chan. The statement also refutes other details in recent reports.
Last week, a report by Wired revealed information about the notable toy company being involved with 4chan, including how it had a sizeable share of the website.
Good Smile Company and 4chan Scandal Explained
According to the Wired report, Good Smile Company invested USD 2.4 million in 4chan during the time that 2channel founder Hiroyuki Nishimura acquired the website.
It is said that Good Smile Company acquired a 30 percent share in 4chan with its sizeable investment.
The Wired report also linked to an interview with Nishimura by publisher Shueisha.
In the interview, Nishimura confirmed that he became friends with Good Smile Company president Takanori Aki.
Wired’s report also mentions that Nendoroid and Figma company is in the process of ending their 4chan partnership.
This is said to be because Disney is set to terminate its partnership with the company following reports of its 4chan involvement.
Given that 4chan is cited as one of the major sources of alt-right conspiracy theories that have led to mass shootings and the January 6 insurrection, many believe that Good Smile’s involvement with the site is problematic.
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Good Smile Company Denies 4chan Partnership
In response to the reports, Good Smile Company released an official statement denying its partnership, stating that it has never had an influence on the site’s management.
The statement reads:
There were some media articles incorrectly stating that Good Smile Company has a partnership with 4chan, an anonymous Internet bulletin board. It is not true. We do not have a partnership with 4chan, never had influence over the management and/or control of 4chan. In fact, we severed any limited relationship we previously had with 4chan in June of 2022. Since then, we have not had any relationship with 4chan.
Good Smile Company also said that other statements in the reports are untrue, though the company did not mention which specific parts of the reports are inaccurate.
Given this statement, it will be interesting to see if Disney will indeed terminate its Good Smile partnership.
If this happens, we’ll likely see the end of production of Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars hobby products.
On the flip side, it seems that existing partnerships with Japanese production companies are unaffected by the issue.
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