Former Japanese boyband star Masahiro Nakai’s TV career in jeopardy after sexual misconduct allegations, shows cancelled

TOKYO, Jan 8 — Major TV networks have distanced themselves from one of Japan’s biggest 1990s boy band stars after media reports said he paid a woman a large settlement related to alleged sexual misconduct. The reports, which emerged last month, said that Masahiro Nakai, a 52-year-old former member of the hugely popular group SMAP, had paid a woman a lump sum of 90 million yen (RM2.56 million).

That was to settle what most Japanese media outlets have cautiously described as “sexual trouble” concerning an encounter that took place in 2023. Details are scarce on the incident, but leading tabloid magazine Shukan Bunshun reported that it involved a closed-door setting and a “sexual act against her will”. Major broadcaster Fuji TV said Wednesday that its weekly show hosted by Nakai was “cancelled for the time being”.



The decision was taken as a result of “our comprehensive review of the situation, in light of recent reports about our host Nakai”, the channel said on its website. Similarly, on Tuesday a weekly Nippon TV entertainment programme co-hosted by Nakai went on air with his appearances edited out. Nakai had agreed with the decision taken from a “comprehensive” standpoint, the broadcaster told AFP, adding that “appropriate measures will be taken” when asked what will happen to the show going forward.

The now-disbanded SMAP swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the group’s nearly 30 years of fame. Nakai’s talent agency was not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP. It told local media including the Asahi Shimbun daily that it is bound by a confidentiality agreement between the parties involved not to discuss details of what happened.

The star, however, “never resorted to force or became violent” toward her, the agency was quoted as saying. One of Nakai’s most powerful corporate sponsors, SoftBank, has reportedly also decided to stop showing a commercial starring the star. The scandal comes after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates — of which SMAP was long the defining face — admitted in 2023 to sexual abuse allegations against 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. Japan’s showbiz industry was then rocked by another bombshell sexual assault scandal against Hitoshi Matsumoto, one of the country’s most popular comedians. In November, Matsumoto said he was withdrawing a libel case against the Shukan Bunshun magazine that published the allegations, including that he forced oral sex on one woman, and forcibly kissed another.

In detailing Nakai’s case last month, outlets including Shukan Bunshun alleged a Fuji TV executive was involved in organising his meeting with the woman — an allegation the broadcaster has denied. “Our employee was not at all involved in organising the event, and had no inkling of its existence”, Fuji TV said in a statement. — AFP.