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The story
Sohin, of the comedy duo Shimofuri Meisei, caused a stir on 5ch after warning Sports Nippon (Sponichi, a major Japanese sports daily) on social media: “Pull the article running in tomorrow’s paper — after this, you’ll never get to cover me again.” According to Sohin himself, his tactics include excluding Sponichi alone from his press conferences and leaking information exclusively to rival outlets. The thread debated this from several angles: whether he actually has any right to force a newspaper to comply with such a demand, how it squares with freedom of the press, and — with a touch of irony — the fact that Sohin himself is usually the one dishing out criticism of others.
What people said
Kaus's overindulgence. (Note: Kaus — veteran Yoshimoto comedian rumored to act as Sohin's powerful patron.)
He's their top YouTube earner and does a ton of live shows too — is there even an upside to cutting him loose?
He's got Kaus backing him up.
Also, trying to infringe on freedom of the press isn't okay, is it?
Mind if we publish your home address, then?
Does Sohin even care about baseball?
Well, it depends on the content. If a simple 'don't' could stop a story, no scandal would ever get published.
Rough.
If they can ignore this and publish anyway, doesn't that mean they can keep ignoring him and publishing whatever they want from now on too?
They don't *have* to run it, though 😅
By that logic, articles exposing politicians' corruption would disappear too.
Public officials are a different case — that'd be a violation of the National Public Service Act.
Then they should just pull it, lol
Seems like the sports papers would be fine never running a story on him again.
Impressive, Sohin, truly.
If someone said that to me, I'd just shut up.
'What I do is a one-man skit,' apparently.
And he uses internet articles as material constantly, too.
apparently he does things like leaving Sponichi out of his press conferences
That's a reward, not a punishment, lol
He works an Ano-chan reference in even for a video like this?
Apparently he knows full well that an outright coverage ban isn't realistic
so instead he's deliberately holding press conferences while blacklisting Sponichi from them and leaking info only to rival outlets.
He's seriously pulling a Trump move, lol
What a lame attack, lmao
Does he seriously think there's someone out there who absolutely must know Sohin's info?
Sohin's done for.
From the video, it doesn't look scandal-related
he's mad because leaking it early would wreck a bunch of projects he has lined up around announcing that info.
Background and key points of this discussion
Sports newspapers can refuse interview requests or ask an outlet be left off a press conference’s guest list, but they generally have no legal mechanism to actually stop a story from running. What Sohin’s side is reportedly using isn’t the “pull the article” demand itself, but operational pressure — excluding Sponichi from press conferences, or leaking information exclusively to rival outlets — a tactic commonly used by entertainers and their talent agencies to steer coverage. The thread split over whether to view this as “interference with freedom of the press” or simply “within the normal bounds of controlling one’s own media access.” Some also questioned the consistency of it, given that Sohin himself is usually known for his critical remarks about others. One point easy to miss from the headline alone: it reads as though he “ordered a publication ban,” but this is really still at the request/warning stage — he has no actual power to enforce it.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G, a “live commentary” discussion board) thread “[Breaking] Sohin warns Sponichi: ‘Pull what’s running in tomorrow’s paper — after this, you’ll never get to cover me again’.”
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