In the wake of the tragic death of Hana Kimura, Rusev is calling for an end to cyberbullying and asking fans to realize that wrestlers are just playing characters.
While streaming on his Twitch channel, Rusev took some time to address the unfortunate passing of Hana Kimura, which many attribute to constant cyberbullying that the Joshi star and Netflix reality television star was facing on a consistent basis, and opened up about how vicious cyberbullying can be when people don't understand that wrestlers are just playing characters on television. Rusev would even use himself and his wife, Lana, as an example.
“I was thinking today about, you know, that young lady that passed away in Japan. Cyberbullying, man, and that's what I'm telling you. You know, social media is great. I love social media. Don't get me wrong. But this has got to stop because nobody likes to be bullied. It doesn't matter how famous you are or how unfamous you are. I can show you all my Tweets and all my Instagram [posts] for me or [Lana's]. It's so much hate,” Rusev began. “You got to understand, what we do is not real. We are playing characters. None of these guys are good guys or bad guys. This is all characters and a lot of people get so caught up in this. They actually take their frustration of storylines and go hit these people on social media and some people take a really, really bad. I can tell you that and it's not good, man. This shit has got to stop because obviously it's not a game. It's not a game. This is [a] life and death situation, obviously.”
Rusev continued, “So if you all see somebody cyberbullying, if anybody hears, you have to stand up to it. You can not do the same, you can not fall into this trap. There is absolutely no excuse for that. That's why none of this shit will be tolerated on this channel. It's not just about me. If somebody is negative toward somebody else, they have got to go because there is no place for drama or for stuff like this, which is really [a] serious thing. There is no place for it, absolutely. Not now, not ever.”
A note about bullying.
— Miro (@RusevBUL) May 23, 2020
Rest in Peace Hana Kimura. pic.twitter.com/oz36M6oizw
Many in the wrestling world shared this sentiment in the wake of this tragic passing. You can read more comments from those within the industry at this link.
If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
