By Rocky Swift
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Fuji Media stated on Monday its chairman and the top of its TV unit would step down instantly amidst a probe into alleged sexual misconduct by a celeb TV host.
The scandal, which has led to an exodus of advertisers and investor requires a administration shake-up, has additionally raised issues concerning the exploitation of ladies in Japan’s leisure business.
In December, Japanese magazines accused Masahiro Nakai, a TV host and chief of the previous boy band SMAP, of sexual misconduct. Whereas Nakai has labored for a lot of of Japan’s TV networks, the occasion was reportedly organized by one of many broadcaster’s executives.
One of many magazines, Shukan Bunshun, has additionally reported that the identical govt had in a separate occasion gathered feminine TV personalities at a resort to behave as leisure for Nakai and different celebrities.
Nakai, 52, has apologised on his fan web site for inflicting “bother” and introduced his retirement from present enterprise. He has additionally acknowledged reaching a settlement with one other get together however has not addressed the allegations instantly. Nakai has not responded to a Reuters request for remark.
Fuji Media stated Chairman Shuji Kanoh and the top of its TV unit Koichi Minato would step down efficient Monday, and one other of its TV executives, Kenji Shimizu, would take over as president of the TV unit.
In accordance with tabloid magazines Josei Seven and Shukan Bunshun, a lady was invited to a dinner in June 2023 with a Fuji TV govt that Nakai additionally attended. However the govt backed out on the final minute leaving her alone with Nakai and there was a sexual act towards her will, they reported.
“To begin with, as an individual, I wish to supply my honest apologies to the lady concerned to whom we had been unable to point out sufficient care and consciousness of human rights,” Kanoh informed a press convention.
A Fuji Media spokesperson stated the corporate turned conscious of the lady’s grievance that June however didn’t extensively examine it or report it attributable to privateness issues and settlement talks between the events.
Outrage over the scandal grew after a Jan. 17 information convention by Minato that was closed to a lot of the press with Minato answering few questions.
Dozens of big-name companies together with Toyota (NYSE:) and cosmetics large Kao have since suspended promoting with Fuji and most of its advertisements are at present public service bulletins.
It stays to be seen whether or not the resignations and Fuji Media’s guarantees of an unbiased investigation by a third-party committee can be ample to quell requires an overhaul in administration and governance by its activist traders.
The committee can be made up of three attorneys and is scheduled to submit its investigation report by the tip of March.
Activist traders who’ve criticised Fuji Media’s dealing with of the disaster embody U.S.-based Dalton Investments, its second-biggest stakeholder at 5.8% based mostly on LSEG information in addition to Zennor Asset Administration, a UK-based fund which holds simply over 1%.
After plunging in late December and early January, Fuji Media’s shares regained floor, bolstered partially by hopes for a significant company shake-up and at the moment are buying and selling some 13% increased since information of the scandal first broke.
The proliferation of scandals involving sexual violence and coercion in Japan in recent times is harking back to the #MeToo motion that kicked off in the US in late 2017.
In 2023, Japan’s high expertise company, Johnny & Associates, introduced it could dissolve after a BBC documentary uncovered how its founder Johnny Kitagawa abused members of boy bands for many years.
Amongst Kitagawa’s greatest creations was SMAP, which launched Nakai and his bandmates into stardom in 1988.
Final week, the Japanese documentary “Black Field Diaries” was nominated for an Academy Award for its depiction of a lady’s seek for justice after accusing a high-profile journalist of rape.
