Masahiro Nakai’s alleged sex scandal causes major advertiser to pull away from one of the prominent broadcast powerhouses

The alleged sex scandal involving former boy band idol turned TV host Masahiro Nakai has led to major chaos in the Japanese entertainment world. More than 50 major advertisers including the heavyweights of the industry have decided to flee Fuji Television amid the speculations, reports the Associated Press.

Here’s a brief on what exactly happened…

In December, the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported that Masahiro Nakai, a former member of the mega-successful male group SMAP, had reached a JPY90 million ($577,000) settlement with a woman over his alleged sexual assault at a 2023 dinner party. Reflecting on the settlement, Nakai described it as “a trouble” but confessed zero involvement in any violence.

Soon after that, the advertising crisis erupted, and it erupted like wildfire. After constant pressure from Rising Sun Management, Fufi TV did an internal investigation into the matter. However, they were not very transparent about their investigation, and thus, at a press conference on Friday, which was led by Fuji TV president Koichi Minato the network faced heavy criticism.

What added more fuel to the fire was Minato’s administration of the fact that the network had sat on knowledge of the incident for roughly six months before the magazine expose came out.

And this doesn’t end here, according to the Shukan Bunshun’s latest report has more disturbing allegations from an unnamed female Fuji announcer. She revealed the involvement of the company in the whole racket by claiming that a senior company executive had arranged multiple similar gatherings for Nakai.

Several big clients confirmed on Tuesday that they are pulling their ads from the network and will be monitoring the situation before making further decisions.