It started as a scoop in a weekly tabloid: the allegation {that a} middle-aged former boy-band star turned prime tv host had paid hush cash to a girl for unspecified wrongdoing.
Other articles adopted, asserting that it was a case of sexual assault, and stirring a wave of public outrage not solely towards the ex-singer but in addition his employer, a serious TV broadcaster, for the way it dealt with the state of affairs.
On Thursday, the person on the middle of the controversy, Masahiro Nakai, introduced his retirement, however the episode had already was a second of reckoning. An worldwide investor has criticized the corporate, Tokyo-based Fuji Television, and Japan’s greatest company advertisers have lined as much as boycott it. Some 75 corporations, together with Toyota, SoftBank and the native operator of McDonald’s, have pulled adverts and sponsorships.
Not a single business now seems on the station’s programming; advert spots are actually crammed with unpaid public service bulletins. Tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in income is at stake as indignant C.E.O.s have known as on Fuji TV to deal with the problem.
“We will cease placing advertisements with the company until a thorough investigation is conducted, the facts are clarified, and appropriate action is taken,” Takeshi Minakata, president of the drink maker Kirin, stated in a press release, which added that the corporate was performing “based on our human rights policy.”
Experts say the anger reveals a brand new intolerance for sexual misconduct set in movement by an earlier scandal. Two years in the past, it emerged {that a} prime Japanese expertise company’s founder, Johnny Kitagawa, had sexually abused younger males for many years. He died in 2019 with out ever dealing with any prices, and company sponsors have been accused of getting ignored the wrongdoing on the company, Johnny & Associates.
This time, massive firms are keen to point out that issues have modified.
“The Johnny scandal marked a turning point,” stated Ryu Honma, who has written extensively in regards to the promoting and media industries. “The sponsors were blamed for complicity due to their inaction.”
The present case got here to gentle in mid-December, when a weekly tabloid known as Josei Seven reported that Mr. Nakai, of the disbanded however nonetheless immensely in style group SMAP, had grow to be embroiled in “serious trouble” with a girl.
The article stated that Mr. Nakai, 52, had paid 90 million yen, or virtually $600,000, to the girl, who has not been publicly recognized. Subsequent tales by different native media extra clearly characterised what occurred as a sexual assault.
Earlier this month, Mr. Nakai admitted that an “incident” had taken place and that he had paid to settle it. He stated that he had used no violence within the encounter, which occurred in June 2023, and that he subsequently felt justified in his resolution to proceed to seem on TV. There have been no official investigations into the case.
Unrelenting criticism and the advert boycott compelled him to reverse that call. On Thursday, Mr. Nakai introduced that he was retiring from leisure and dissolving his expertise company.
“I don’t think that this fulfills all my responsibilities,” he stated in a press release, promising to “sincerely cooperate” in any investigation. “I apologize once again from my heart to the other party.”
Anger has additionally grown at Fuji TV, the place Mr. Nakai was a well-liked present host. According to the tabloid article, it was a Fuji TV worker who arrange the assembly in 2023 between Mr. Nakai and the girl within the case.
Fuji TV initially issued a imprecise denial of “reports in some weekly magazines.” But it later stated it was creating an in-house committee to analyze the allegation involving Mr. Nakai, in addition to different news media studies that it had lengthy rewarded male expertise by arranging encounters with feminine announcers.
Fuji TV has come beneath criticism for being gradual to confront the state of affairs extra instantly, and likewise for the way it finally did so: at a news convention open solely to pick out media, at which no livestreaming or cameras have been allowed.
At the news convention, held final week, Fuji TV’s president stated his firm had realized in regards to the episode proper after it occurred however didn’t disclose it.
“Our decision at the time was not to make the matter public, but to respect the woman’s wish to return to work and to prioritize her physical and mental recovery and the protection of her privacy,” stated the president, Koichi Minato.
The news convention additionally got here after an American shareholder, an funding firm known as Dalton Investments, despatched a letter to Fuji TV’s administration harshly criticizing the corporate’s failure to react to — a lot much less repair — its issues.
The state of affairs with Mr. Nakai “reflects not only a problem in the entertainment industry generally, but, specifically, it exposes serious flaws in your corporate governance,” the letter stated. “The lack of consistency and, importantly, transparency in both reporting the facts and the subsequent unforgivable shortcomings in your response merit serious condemnation.”
The day after Fuji TV’s news convention, massive Japanese corporations started asserting that they have been pulling their adverts.
On Thursday, Fuji TV’s mum or dad firm, Fuji Media Holdings, weighed in. The president, Osamu Kanemitsu, stated that it was “imperative that we regain the trust of our employees, sponsors and viewers.” He introduced that the corporate’s board had determined in an emergency assembly to ascertain an unbiased committee to look at Fuji TV’s response.
“It took time for the realization to spread that they cannot look the other way,” stated Mr. Honma, the promoting and media critic. “When big customers start to leave, it brings action.”