Hololive Terminates Contract with Uruha Rushia

gamerant.com:

Virtual YouTubers, or VTubers, might seem like a niche interest, but there were approximately 16,000 VTubers worldwide as of October 2021. These content creators, who create a virtual avatar using real-time motion capture software, have amassed millions of followers online. The phenomenon has become so popular that even Sonic and Tails have become VTubers. And one of the leading VTubers is Uruha Rushia, a Japanese content creator who signed with Hololive Production in July 2019. She is currently the highest YouTube Superchat earner and has over 1.5 million subscribers on the platform.

Owned by Japanese company Cover Corporation, Hololive Production is a talent agency that runs multiple VTuber channels on YouTube, Twitch, Chinese video sharing website Bilibili, and others. Content creators interested in working with the company must sign a contract with Hololive. At the end of 2021, there were 62 VTubers working with the company, totaling over 43 million subscribers on YouTube alone.

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Uruha Rushia, whose Hololive profile describes her as a “necromancer from the Underworld Academy,” is no longer affiliated with the company. Hololive made the official announcement on February 24, stating that Rushia has been “distributing false information to third parties and has been leaking information, including communications regarding business matters.” This has resulted in the company “suffer[ing] reputational damage.” Hololive maintains that it has been aware of Rushia’s activities for some time and decided that it “has become difficult to continue managing and supporting her.”

It is not clear what Rushia specifically did, what type of information was leaked, or to whom. A Japanese