{"id":69872,"date":"2026-07-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=69872"},"modified":"2026-07-21T17:20:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T08:20:55","slug":"former-tekken-lead-katsuhiro-harada-once-thought-he-was-cooked-when-american-fans-invited-him-to-a-cookout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-tekken-lead-katsuhiro-harada-once-thought-he-was-cooked-when-american-fans-invited-him-to-a-cookout\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Tekken lead\u00a0Katsuhiro Harada\u00a0once\u00a0thought he was \u201ccooked\u201d when American fans invited him to a cookout\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Katsuhiro Harada<\/strong>\u2019s work on\u00a0the\u00a0Tekken\u00a0franchise\u00a0has allowed him to travel the world and meet many of his\u00a0international\u00a0fans.\u00a0\u00a0While he considers himself\u00a0relatively good\u00a0at reading and writing in English, he has admitted to occasionally struggling with foreign fans&#8217; comments and messages using slang,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Harada_TEKKEN\/status\/2079040689804071110?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">citing  a hilarious misunderstanding of a 2019 cookout invitation<\/a>\u00a0as an example.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TEKKEN 7 - Leroy Smith DLC TWT Trailer | PS4, X1, PC\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V_S_glvvBMI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Leroy Smith was announced as a\u00a0Tekken 7\u00a0DLC\u00a0character\u00a0in 2019,\u00a0a group of\u00a0elated\u00a0American fans\u00a0invited Harada\u00a0to a cookout. Unfortunately,\u00a0he\u00a0misunderstood the invitation, thinking he&#8217;d\u00a0somehow\u00a0offended his\u00a0African American\u00a0fanbase.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He\u00a0reveals that it was during this time\u00a0that\u00a0the slang word \u201ccooked\u201d started appearing more\u00a0frequently\u00a0online.\u00a0Used to describe people\u00a0and things in completely abysmal states, Harada often\u00a0encountered\u00a0the term when\u00a0arguing against\u00a0articles that\u00a0seemed to be\u00a0hell-bent on spreading hate toward video games. Whenever Harada would completely shut down\u00a0an argument, fans would reply with \u201ccooked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With that knowledge, Harada assumed that the word \u201ccookout\u201d was a stronger variation of \u201ccooked.\u201d Instead of seeing\u00a0the\u00a0fan invitation as a friendly get-together, he thought that they wanted to \u201cbeat him up and roast him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually, someone explained to him that a cookout invitation was one of the highest honors one could receive in the African American community,\u00a0the equivalent of being\u00a0trusted enough to be invited to an event that only close friends and family members could attend.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1463\" height=\"820\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1463px) 100vw, 1463px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260721-69872-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-69874\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260721-69872-001.jpg 1463w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260721-69872-001-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260721-69872-001-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another&nbsp;instance&nbsp;of Harada misunderstanding American slang was when fans kept calling him the \u201cfxxking&nbsp;GOAT\u201d and spamming his posts with goat emojis. What was meant to be a form of&nbsp;praise&nbsp;was instead seen as an insult, with Harada thinking people were comparing him to an animal.&nbsp;Notably, when faced with this kind&nbsp;of&nbsp;\u201chate\u201d (though it&nbsp;turned out not to be&nbsp;the case in both instances), Harada\u2019s&nbsp;first instinct was to try and learn more about the culture&nbsp;as&nbsp;to prevent offending people again, an attitude many of his fans have praised.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related:\u00a0<\/strong><br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/katsuhiro-harada-talks-about-elden-ring-creator-hidetaka-miyazakis-unusual-career-path-and-humble-attitude-towards-development\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Katsuhiro Harada talks about Elden Ring creator Hidetaka Miyazaki\u2019s unusual career path and humble attitude towards development<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-vs-in-katsuhiro-haradas-new-vs-studio-doesnt-stand-for-versus-but-the-tekken-veteran-is-keen-on-exploring-competitive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The \u201cVS\u201d in Katsuhiro Harada\u2019s new VS Studio doesn\u2019t stand for \u201cversus,\u201d but the Tekken veteran is keen on \u201cexploring competitive games\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada reminisces on hilarious misunderstandings of American slang.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":69873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-07-21T15:00:08+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mr635prqvb2u","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mr635prqvb2u\",\"cid\":\"bafyreigfcczak7xd65bt7cklcpifsdhppxoz4bgwlh336gucaot7g5cyee\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreih746fcnuiz4mz4h663a2qg7recpewo7mez6qxcrwbipdq7fqekvq\",\"rev\":\"3mr635prusb2u\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-69872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - 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