Following the tragic and untimely passing of 22-year-old Japanese professional wrestler and Terrace House star Hana Kimura on Saturday, Netflix Japan has announced that it will suspend streaming future episodes of the reality TV show.
Although production of the latest season of Terrace House had been temporarily put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, episodes of the 39th, 43rd, and 44th weeks of the show had been scheduled to air on Japanese TV beginning May 25, with future episodes also slated to appear on Netflix Japan.
Terrace House follows the lives of six young adults living together in Tokyo. Kimura, who had made her pro wrestling debut in 2016, joined the show on its 20th episode. During the current season, Kimura began to experience intense online bullying and harassment.
While the wrestler’s cause of death has not been revealed, her last Instagram story had the caption “goodbye” and it is believed that the young star committed suicide. Her unexpected death has resulted in an outpouring of grief from fans across the world and also rekindled the topic of cyberbullying. Yukio Hatoyama, Japan’s former prime minister, made a Twitter post about Kimura’s passing, stating that Japan should consider penalties for those who engage in online harassment.
Source: Kotaku