Publisher Playism removed Kson from their TGS 2021 livestream soon after they announced her as a host, seemingly due to backlash from Chinese users.

While Playism removed Kson from their group of hosts for the live broadcast, the decision came after users started complaining en masse on Chinese website Bilibili, leading to the publisher making an abrupt apology confirming they’ve removed Kson as a host.

“A very sincere apology to everyone. P-chan, Playism has just received the list of guests for the show, and we really just learned that K(son) was the alternative name of that “censored” person, thanks to the comments,” the notice reads.

They added, “It’s not the mistake of our fellow Bilibili friends who rebroadcast our show, it’s our mistake that we have failed to acknowledge the rules of China on the NG people. We are really really sorry that we made our fellow audience feel unpleasant and disturbed.”

“We have already found another guest to replace her. This time, we will be criticizing ourselves for this wrongdoing, and we will be aware of what’s allowed and not allowed in China.”

This apology is quite different from the ones published on their official site, all of which blame the entire thing on the guest list being submitted to all organizers and media before final confirmation was made, and don’t even mention Kson by name.

Now the only confirmed hosts include the previously announced Ai Yokomachi, NAMARIKIRIN, and Shunji Mizutani.

Kson is rumored to have previously appeared as Hololive streamer Kiryu Coco, who originally got into trouble for mentioning Taiwan when reporting on their own metrics on a livestream. Coming from this, when Coco “retired”, Kson curiously returned to streaming regularly. As such, the decision to remove her is based on this connection.

The Playism TGS Game Show: Premium Edition will include new details on 16 games, and will kick off on September 25 at 4 PM Japan time. You’ll be able to watch it on YouTube (English or Japanese).