Nakai Masahiro, one of the ex-members of now retired boy band SMAP, has finally released a statement about the 90 million yen (USD $569,000) settlement he made with a woman who works for a Japanese TV station. The entertainer, who had multiple programs on Japanese TV, wants to continue his career despite the air of impropriety now engulfing him. However, it’s unclear whether the fans – or TV stations – will let him.
Nakai has been under the gun ever since reports emerged of the eye-watering settlement. Reports from local outlets such as Sponichi Annex and Shukan Bunshun have reported that some form of sexual assault occurred. Most outlets continue to use the euphemistic phrase “complications with a woman” (女性トラブル; josei toraburu).
Since then, multiple TV stations have suspended the shows that Nakai MCs on Japanese TV. Fans have called on Nakai to offer an explanation.
In his first statement on the incident posted to his website, titled “Apology,” Nakai apologizes to “everyone” while saying that things have been reported that “differ from the facts” and that this has “likely proven extremely painful for the other party and the people involved.”
Nakai acknowledges that “there was an incident” but insists that “there was no violence.” (He says nothing about sexual assault.) He won’t explain anything about what happened, citing the “privacy” around the settlement.
He then asserts, “We have come to a settlement that will allow me to continue my entertainment career without impediment.”
However, that doesn’t seem to be true. On social media, commenters expressed doubt that Nakai’s gambit to “move on” from the incident would work.
“It can’t be okay to keep entertainment just because he paid out money,” tweeted writer Fujii Seira. “If that were the case, anyone could keep appearing on TV by paying money to shut someone up, no matter what awful acts they committed. He feels he can just admit to sexual assault and in the same breath say it’s resolved and no big deal.”
Others
The other party speaks out: “There are other victims like me”
Fuji TV, which airs the show Dareka to Nakai, currently says it has no plans to let the star back on TV or radio. The company is also scrambling to do damage control after reports that several of its employees were involved in helping Nakai target women.
Bunshun talked with the woman, X, as well as several people close to her. X, who worked at Fuji TV, wouldn’t say much about the incident itself as she’s bound by the lawsuit. However, she and others claim that A, a person at Fuji close to Nakai, arranged for her to join a “group” dinner party with him and Nakai. He and the others canceled at the last minute, leaving her and Nakai alone. The incident occurred that night.
X never wanted to attend the party in the first place. However, a friend of X’s said she felt compelled to because A – and, by implication, Nakai – wanted her to.
Employees of Fuji TV interviewed by Bunshun deny they were involved in the incident. In his statement, Nakai also insisted in his statement that no one “except the people concerned” were involved in the incident. Fuji also made a statement denying any of its employees were involved.
After the incident, X ended up hospitalized due to mental stress. A friend says Nakai tried to send her a get-well-soon gift, which she rejected.
X considered filing police charges. However, a friend said she pursued a settlement instead because she didn’t want her name to become public.
“I don’t want to see more people like me,” X told Bunshun, choosing her words carefully. “[Japan’s] entertainment world has to change.”
“It’s like we have no right to refuse the people who make and cast the programs. We have no choice but to entertain [the entertainers].”
Despite Fuji and Nakai’s denials, she and others interviewed claim that A has set up other women at the station with male celebrities in the same manner.
“Why hasn’t Fuji stopped A?” she asked rhetorically. “They’re just turning a blind eye? There are other victims like me.”
X responds to Nakai’s statement
After we went to publication, News Post Seven reached X for comment about Nakai’s apology:
“I have no comment. My life won’t return to the way it was. That’s all.”
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