Gackt Got Banned From A Dating App For Impersonating Himself

Gackt YouTube bathroom picture

Renowned Japanese singer and actor Gakuto Oshiro, known almost exclusively as Gackt in both Japan and abroad, recently revealed that he tried out online dating for the first time. The 50-year-old came across a bit of a problem, though, when he was suddenly banned without warning.

As reported by Livedoor and translated by DeepL and GLHF, Gackt appeared on an episode of Fuji TV’s live variety show Poka Poka, where he told the story of his attempts at online dating. Apparently, one of his dancers suggested he register on the app, and he thought he’d give it a go, even paying a 6000 yen (approximately $40 USD) fee for the privilege.

As he explained, the app requires that users put a real picture and use their name, so he did exactly that, listing his name as GACKT and using a photo of himself. Unfortunately, upon checking the app the next day, he had been banned.

“When I opened the app the next day, it went back to the login screen,” Gackt told Poka Poka’s presenters, “I tried logging in again but I couldn’t. I wondered why, so I checked my email, and it said ‘You have been banned due to fraud.’”

Gackt went on to say that plenty of other people on the app were using his picture, but he was the only one who got banned — despite being the only person in the world who could use it and not be lying. He asked his manager to call the company behind the app to tell it he wasn’t falsifying information, though it’s unclear how that went for the singer.

Gackt is incredibly popular in Japan, having started his career in 1993 as part of a rock band before going solo in 1999. Since then, he’s sold over 10 million records, and had his music featured in a number of anime, films, tv shows, and video games.

Outside of Japan, he’s probably most well known for his appearance in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, the prequel to the hit game. In Crisis Core, he voices the character of Genesis Rhapsodos, which was also modeled after and co-created by Gackt.

Crisis Core got a remaster on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC late last year.

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