It’s not you, it’s me: That’s basically what Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is saying about his decision to end participation in a reality-TV matchmaking show that would have traced the selection of a woman contestant to accompany him on a trip around the moon.
- Maezawa announced the change of heart, and his request to cancel the show on Japan’s AbemaTV video streaming service, in a series of tweets. The 44-year-old fashion retailing entrepreneur announced the casting call for “Full Moon Lovers” two weeks ago. Grand prize was to have been a round-the-moon trip with Maezawa, presumably on SpaceX’s Starship super-spaceship in the early 2020s.
- He admitted that he had “mixed feelings” about the reality-TV show even when he agreed to do it. “To think that 27,722 women, with earnest intentions and courage, had used their precious time to apply makes me feel extremely remorseful to conclude and inform everyone with this selfish decision of mine,” Maezawa wrote. He apologized to the applicants as well as to AbemaTV’s staff, saying that he was “truly sorry from the bottom of my heart.”
- AbemaTV announced that it was canceling the show in accordance with Maezawa’s wishes, but there’s no indication that Maezawa is canceling his round-the-moon trip. That trip has been in the works since 2018. At the time it was announced, Maezawa said he was providing financial support for Starship’s development, which is proceeding apace, and would bring a group of artists and performers along with him once Starship is ready to make the flight.
