Japanese entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, better known as Horiemon, pushed back on Aug. 20 against Sanseito leader Munetaka Kamiya’s criticism of Bill Gates, after Gates met Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo.
During the Aug. 19 meeting, Ishiba pledged that Japan would contribute $550 million over the next five years to a global vaccine fund supporting developing countries. Kamiya quickly denounced the plan on X, saying Japan was being “exploited” to make up for reduced U.S. funding. “If Mr. Gates wants to do this, he should use Microsoft’s money,” Kamiya wrote, adding that he would rather see the money spent on fighting child poverty in Japan.
Horie, citing his own YouTube interview with Gates, reposted Kamiya’s remarks with sharp criticism. “First, he should watch my video and learn the basics,” Horie wrote, questioning whether Kamiya was “deliberately riling up supporters or just speaking out of ignorance.”
Horie defended Gates’s philanthropy, noting that the billionaire has put up his own fortune while urging governments and companies to match his contributions, and that the aid is meant to continue only until projects in developing nations can stand on their own.
by MagazineKey4532