A member of the Japanese pop idol group Arashi broke his silence Monday over sexual abuse allegations involving the band’s company Johnny & Associates Inc, urging the corporate to unravel the scandal.
“I want the agency to probe exactly what happened without having people concerned speak against their will while protecting their privacy,” Sho Sakurai mentioned, talking as an anchor in the course of the TV program “news zero.”
Sakurai, 41, who grew to become an anchor on this system in 2006, joined different individuals associated to Johnny & Associates in calling on certainly one of Japan’s most influential leisure companies to “ensure this kind of scandal will never happen again.”
Earlier Monday, three former members of the Tokyo-based company who’ve alleged sexual abuse by its late founder Johnny Kitagawa submitted a petition with some 40,000 signatures to ruling and opposition events, asking them to revise the kid abuse prevention legislation to guard minors from related wrongdoings.
Sakurai additionally requested the general public to be conscious that speaking about or dealing with the difficulty based mostly on groundless info might harm some, together with those that at the moment are “living new lives” outdoors the leisure business.
“We must avoid having such people get drawn into the allegations. That should take top priority,” he mentioned.
The five-member boy band Arashi has been on hiatus for the reason that finish of 2020. Sakurai was an authentic member of the group, which debuted in 1999.
The allegations that Kitagawa sexually abused youngsters have garnered consideration for the reason that BBC aired a documentary in March that included interviews with victims. Kitagawa died in 2019 on the age of 87.
The company’s president Julie Keiko Fujishima made a public apology final month in reference to the scandal, whereas stopping in need of confirming the claims by former members. Veteran singer Masahiko Kondo, who left the company in 2021, reportedly urged company officers to answer the difficulty correctly.
© KYODO