Major network Fuji Television said it was probing allegations involving one of the country’s biggest celebrities after an activist investor said it was “outraged” by the lack of transparency.
TV host and former J-pop star Masahiro Nakai (pic), 52, a household name, reportedly paid a woman 90 million yen (RM2.6mil) after she alleged sexual misconduct.
Fuji previously denied tabloid reports suggesting that one of its employees had arranged the meal where Nakai, a member of the 1990s boy band sensation SMAP, met the woman in 2023.
United States fund Dalton Investments’ affiliate Rising Sun Management, a shareholder in the station’s parent company, called on Fuji to establish a committee of outside experts to “clarify the facts” and present “remedial measures”.“The lack of consistency and, importantly, transparency in both reporting the facts and the subsequent unforgivable shortcomings in your response merit serious condemnation that serves not only to undermine viewer trust, but also leads directly to erode shareholder value,” Rising Sun said in its statement.
“As one of your largest shareholders, controlling over 7% of the company’s stock, we are outraged!”
Following Rising Sun’s statement, Fuji said it has been reviewing “the facts” with outside lawyers since last year.
“We will take appropriate action based on the result of the examination,” Fuji Television said in a statement yesterday.
A Fuji spokesman declined to comment further on the matter.
Fuji Media shares have dropped 13% over the past three weeks since the allegation came to light.
The scandal comes after now- defunct talent agency Johnny & Associates, of which SMAP was long the face, admitted in 2023 to sexual abuse allegations by its late founder.
Music mogul Johnny Kitagawa, who died aged 87 in 2019, had for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men seeking stardom, the agency said.
Allegations about Kitagawa swirled for decades, but it was not until 2023 that they ignited calls for compensation following a BBC documentary and denunciations by victims. — AFP
