We love parody — and so does both the Japanese adult toys industry and the porn industry.
But when does spoofing go too far?
The comedian/YouTuber Chikuwa, who has over 180,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, was recently forced to apologize after she mocked the ex-porn star Kirara Asuka about having plastic surgery.
The controversy started on November 14, when Chikuwa posted a video in which she did an impression of Kirara Asuka. The former adult video idol, however, was less than amused, and tweeted that she was beginning legal action.
Chikuwa then responded with an apology video in which, dressed in dour black clothing, she bowed for about 30 seconds and said her joke had “gone too far.” She explained that she has removed her original video to avoid legal action. Chikuwa remorsefully notes that she should not have named an individual person to make a joke.
However, the plot thickens. A mere three hours later, she subsequently posted a new video titled “Woman who doesn’t get a joke.” She does a skit wearing props for an exaggerated nose and chin, and in which she pretends to be Asuka describing her intention to take “legal action” because she “has to make money for her plastic surgery” by “suing YouTubers.”
She then names Asuka again and even introduces the message that the 34-year-old star’s manager sent Chikuwa, alleging defamation and threatening libel action with detailed references to the civil and criminal code.
This is all based on media reports (and as is frustratingly typical of the Japanese mainstream media, doesn’t even mention Asuka’s former career) — we can’t find any of the original videos or content, so they were presumably since deleted, lost to the ether of the internet and the mists of time. The only evidence we can find is an apology tweet from November 18 that says she made the video private (presumably referring to the final one).
In the replies to the tweet, though, if you scroll down, some users have uploaded copies of the third spoof video. We wonder how long they will stay up.
Kirara Asuka, meanwhile, who commands millions of followers on social media, tweeted on November 18 how “deeply hurt” she was by the video and that the impression of her was done “without permission.” To be honest, we just have to sigh. Since when does comedy — even if it’s not particularly good comedy, like this — need permission to spoof and parody?!
As much as we love Kirara Asuka, we think this is a dangerous precedent for comedy.
