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Mikeneko, Cover Corp Address Rumors Around Former hololive VTuber Uruha Rushia

Online personality Mikeneko released a statement on Twitter on Friday addressing rumors around the former hololive Virtual YouTuber Uruha Rushia. Although the statement does not refer to hololive or Rushia directly by name, she wrote that the text was checked beforehand by "the company I belonged to," and that she was emotionally attached to her role as "a green-haired necromancer" who was part of the group's "third generation."

Mikeneko denied rumors that, when active as the green-haired necromancer, she wished misfortune upon her fellow group members, saying that a private message from November was taken out of context and retroactively interpreted as a reference to events from February this year. Mikeneko wrote that she sincerely regrets not being able to speak about this matter sooner, which has resulted in online users slandering many different parties. She emphasized that she continues to treasure the members as her dear friends, and apologized for the trouble she has caused them.

Regarding the company's official public statement around the talent's termination, she denied expressing falsehoods to the related parties. She nevertheless admitted that she shared a LINE communication with her manager to another person. She said that she did this to stop certain conversations about her spreading at the time. On the other hand, she claimed that she did not leak any information or report falsehoods beyond this particular action. She argued that the information she transmitted was unrelated to company secrets or other group members. She expressed her concern that the company's wording might have exaggerated the extent of her misdeeds, which in turn fanned online slander.

Mikeneko requested that the company revise its statement, but the company did not agree to this. Nevertheless, they are still earnestly in communication, for which she expressed her gratitude. She hoped that she and the company could release a joint statement, but because they were unable to reach an agreement on this particular matter, she decided to release a statement on her own. She said that "although there are still things that I am hammering out with the company, our relationship is not in dire straits. There are still contractual things and paperwork that we are currently working through."

Mikeneko concluded by stating that she has faced a great deal of harassment, for which she feels partly responsible for due to the drastic nature of her own actions. However, she feels that it is wrong for the world to be filled with so much negativity. She expressed her hope that people can move past the mistakes and focus on the future, and that she personally plans to be optimistic.

COVER Corp. released its own Twitter statement on Saturday reiterating that there were no errors in its press release from February 24, and denied acknowledging any error within that statement in the past. It also asked fans to refrain from slander towards any related party.

Cover Corporation announced on February 24 that it was terminating its agreement with Uruha Rushia due to contract violations. The company claimed that the talent distributed "false information to third parties and has been leaking information, including communications regarding business matters." The YouTube channel shut down on March 31.

The news followed speculations around Rushia's relationship status after the talent allegedly received a Discord message from the male utaite (online-based singer) Mafumafu while on stream. Mafumafu addressed the allegations in a tweet obliquely referring to Rushia: "I became good friends with that person through games. Last night, I made contact to play a game together. I am sorry for the discomfort I caused to many people. It is not true that we live together."

A Japanese YouTube video that claims to have information leaked directly from Rushia received over 2 million views.

On February 14, Cover addressed harassment of Rushia in a statement, and announced that it would take action against "slander and defamation" directed at her. The agency announced the next day that Rushia would not appear at the 3rd Anniversary GARIBENGER V Super Thanksgiving event on February 20 due to "poor health."

Uruha Rushia was a 3rd generation hololive talent who debuted on July 18, 2019. Her official English profile describes her as "a necromancer from the Underworld Academy who is not good at communicating with people. She does not want to be alone, however, which is why she talks to the spirits and the damned."

According to Playboard's data, Rushia is the world's top Superchat earner of all time as of June 27. As of February 14, 2022, she earned approximately 379 million yen (US$3.2 million) in total. She earned 17 million yen (almost US$150,000) in January alone.

Sources: Mikeneko's Twitter account, COVER Corp.'s Twitter account