Anime News Network CEO Christophe Macdonald Admits They Were Wrong After Threatening YouTuber Hero Hei

Anime News Network CEO Christophe Macdonald admitted he and Anime News Network were in the wrong after they threatened YouTuber Hero Hei.

Macdonald took to Twitter to admit his mistake. He wrote, “I made a mistake and I admit it. I stand by our claim that the video was infringing, but I was completely wrong about the outcome of the dispute. I just saw the notification from YouTube, they sided with you in regards to our DMCA complaint. I deleted [Anime News Network] tweets.”

Macdonald’s admission of making a mistake comes after Anime News Network issued a DMCA strike against one of his videos titled, “Vic Mignogna Anime News Network Interview Critique w/ Chat.” The DMCA strike against Hero Hei’s YouTube channel prevented him from live streaming.

Following the DMCA strike, Hero Hei indicated he would dispute the claim and had contacted lawyer Nick Rekieta, who indicated he would represent Hero Hei.

“I am representing Hero Hei in this counter notification action. We have sent a counter-notification to ANN, and since I was doing it professionally, and not on behalf of myself, there’s no profanity or insults in there. If it was from me, it would probably be a little bit different.”

Hero Hei would eventually claim victory against Anime News Network and have his live streaming privileges restored.

He would tell his followers and fans:

“We won the dispute. We beat Anime News Network. They knew better than to try to actually sue over this bullshit strike, because they would’ve got their ass handed to them. And they did, because they didn’t escalate the issue. They chickened out.”

He would follow also tweet out that he had won.

After Hero Hei tweeted out that he had won, Anime News Network threatened Hero Hei and disputed that he had won.

In a now deleted tweet, they threatened:

“If by “won the dispute” you mean “gave up and deleted the infringing video.” Sure. Whatever. We dare you to upload it again in the exact same format. “

They also provided a screenshot of the alleged dispute indicating a video had been removed by a user. However, their screenshot did not indicate what that video was and if it even had anything to do with Hero Hei.

In fact, Nick Rekieta indicated that the screenshot might have been misleading.

Hero Hei would also call out Anime News Network describing them as “Fake News. He provided a screenshot indicating that YouTube had reinstated his video and that he only removed it after he won the dispute.

The screenshot from YouTube states, “The video has been reinstated and the strike has been resolved.”

He would also respond by indicating he was “living rent free” in the Anime News Network CEO’s mind.

Following Hero Hei’s response, Macdonald admitted he and Anime News Network were in the wrong. He then proceeded to delete the tweets.

What do you make of Macdonald’s response to Hero Hei? What do you make of Hero Hei and Nick Rekieta’s responses? Will this make you question Anime News Network’s reporting in the future?

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