With the release of the independent committee’s report, the Fuji TV scandal has entered a new stage. Fuji now needs to show it can pick up the pieces and change its culture if it wants to continue as a business.
That’s easier said than done. The committee’s finding that Nakai committed sexual assault – and that this occurred within the context of the victim’s work – means it had to make meaningful changes to show the advertisers who have bailed that it’s safe to come back. So far, only around 10% have restored their ads on the network. Fuji also received an official warning from the country’s private broadcasting association, the Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association, which gave it “administrative guidance” regarding its lack of awareness concerning human rights and adherence to the law.
One thing’s for sure: former SMAP member Nakai Masahiro has no career left to speak of (donald_glover_good.gif). The ex-celeb is, according to a report from Daily Shincho, looking at selling the 1 billion yen ($6.5M) mansion where he assaulted his victim. He’s also reportedly considering a move back to Fujisawa, his home city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a population of around 430,000.
As the scandal comes to a conclusion, however, there’s one offender still unidentified.
We wrote about the man whom the independent committee came to call “Celebrity U” back in January. Another female announcer at Fuji told Bunshun that she’d been to a party with Nakai, another celebrity, and another female announcer in December 2021 in a suite room at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo.(“U” was the initial assigned by the committee in alphabetical order; it doesn’t correspond to the man’s actual name.)
Per the woman’s telling, being left alone with Nakai and U made her uncomfortable, so she went to the bathroom to collect herself. U reportedly followed her and was naked when she returned, beckoning to her. She says she found it hard to advance her career at Fuji after that.
