Considering that Nakai came back to work in 2023 after taking a long break to recuperate from illness, it is shocking to see that the incident happened in the same year of his return. It does make people wonder how he could have not realised the seriousness of his action and the impact it could have on his career and reputation. You would have thought that someone would treasure what they had after facing the potential risk of being unable to regain it or losing it forever. Or maybe it wouldn't matter so much since he would have made a lot of money over his long career. The thing is, will it be a swift departure from showbiz for him or is it going to be a gradual fade-out when TV stations and sponsors cut him off? And will the public be forgiving enough to give him a second chance some years down the road? Only time will tell.
What has been known so far seems to suggest that a longtime systemic problem of sexual exploitation in the TV industry. A former FujiTV announcer's comments and revelation of his own experience seemed to be rather damning but it doesn't look like the TV station wants to admit that it had a part to play in the incident this time. While some media reports suggested that the issue might have been swept under the carpet if Nakai was still with his old agency, times have changed. In this time and age, information spreads more widely and quickly than before so it won't be as easy to get the media to shut up even if your agency is very powerful. The contrast in handling this matter between the print/online media and the TV media is also hard to miss and it is anybody's guess why this is happening.
What happened
As first reported in the 19 December 2024 issue of “Josei Seven” and 20 December 2024 article from “NEWS Post Seven”, Nakai Masahiro paid a settlement of JPY 90m to a former female employee of FujiTV due to “a serious incident” that happened between them in June 2023. One of the terms involved in the settlement was a confidentiality agreement on both parties.
The female employee was supposed to attend a meal gathering with Nakai and a “high-ranking executive” of FujiTV on the night concerned (some media reports claim that the number of participants was supposed to be more than these three people though) but the executive had pulled out at the last minute. This created a situation where she and Nakai were left alone in a private room at the restaurant and it was then when the incident happened. Nakai’s side reportedly proposed the settlement arrangement days after that.
“Bunshun Online” reported on 26 December 2024 that the incident was of a sexual nature and managed to interview the female employee concerned who expressed her anger towards her former employer for not taking action to stop the executive from organising such functions even though she wasn’t the first victim of such incidents. She also expressed how she still couldn’t forgive Nakai for what he did. “Bunshun” published testimonies of FujiTV staff members who claimed that the female staff and announcers in the TV station were constantly treated as “companions” at such functions to entertain celebrities and VIPs.
Responses
When asked by the media to confirm the authenticity of the reports, Nakai’s legal representative only said that “there was no physical violence involved” and the matter was already “settled”. In addition, there was nothing else to say since both parties had signed a confidentiality agreement. However, given the scale of the settlement money paid out, the controversy and speculation over what actually happened to warrant such a huge payout continued to simmer online.
Surprisingly or not, it was noted that the print and online media were reporting this extensively but there was a deafening silence on TV media as if nothing had happened. This fueled more speculation that because Nakai is the host for many TV programmes, the TV stations were reluctant to report on his case for fear of courting more trouble.
FujiTV denied that its employee i.e. the executive was involved in setting up the meal gathering and “was unable to confirm the incident” in its 27 December 2024 statement published on its website. It also called on everyone to refrain from making defamatory statements and untrue speculations about its staff and affiliates on social media.
In response to this statement, former FujiTV announcer Hasegawa Yutaka commented in an interview that FujiTV should have conducted a thorough investigation first and had to address two key questions:
- Who had arranged the meal gathering since it was specifically mentioned in the media reports that it was a FujiTV executive?
- Why were Nakai and the female employee left alone?
Hasegawa said that he had heard rumours of this incident several months before it was reported in the media and revealed that the executive concerned was not very well-liked by the staff since he got ahead in FujiTV thanks to his connections with celebrities and executives with talent agencies and was known to organise such gatherings frequently. It was also unthinkable for a female employee to be left alone in such a situation because during Hasegawa’s time in the TV station, there would be at least 3 to 4 people present at these functions to prevent anything from getting out of hand. And since FujiTV had denied the media reports in such a manner, it seemed to insinuate that the media was lying and this would have dealt more damage to the female employee. If nothing happened, it made no sense for Nakai to pay so much money in the first place. Hasegawa also revealed that this practice of getting the staff to participate at such entertainment functions has been in place for “decades” and that he himself was also subjected to sexual harassment by a female sponsor in the past who “touched his chest” during such a function.
Nakai posted an apology statement to his fanclub on his official website but has not made any public comment on what happened. His statement said that he was sorry for “causing inconvenience and would do his best to face up to the matter with the utmost sincerity”.
There is widespread speculation online about the identity of the former female employee. Coincidentally or not, there was a FujiTV announcer who happened to take a break from work in July 2023 due to “health reasons” and quit the TV station in the following month. However, there has been no confirmation on her identity nor did the announcer concerned comment publicly on this issue.
Consequences (so far)
- TBS variety show “Nakai Masahiro no kinyoubi no sumairu tachi e” - New Year SP scheduled to be shown on 10 January 2025 is replaced with another show. The recording of this episode was cancelled at the last minute following media reports.
- FujiTV variety show “Dare ka to Nakai” scheduled on 12 January 2025 is replaced with another show. This episode is supposed to be the first episode where new co-host Okada Junichi would make his first appearance. The programme was previously reported to be ending its run in March this year and had seen a number of co-host changes in 2024 because of Matsumoto Hitoshi's scandal and lawsuit with Bunshun.
- TV Asahi news programme “Nakai Masahiro no doyoubi na kai” scheduled on 11 January 2025 is to be replaced with another show.
- Nippon Housou radio show “Nakai Masahiro ON & ON AIR” was broadcast as scheduled on 4 January 2025.
- NTV variety show “Za! Sekai gyouten nyuusu” - 4-hr New Year SP is to be shown as planned but the TV station has announced that his scenes will be edited out since this is a pre-recorded show.
- His CMs for Softbank have been deleted from their website.
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