Executives at Japan`s Fuji TV and parent firm resign over a sex scandal linked to a former star

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The Japanese network Fuji Television and its parent company say its president and chairperson are resigning immediately to take responsibility for a widening sex assault scandal linked to one of Japan’s top TV celebrities

TOKYO — The Japanese network Fuji Television and its parent company said Monday that its president and chairperson were resigning immediately to take responsibility for a widening sex assault scandal linked to one of Japan's top TV celebrities.

The scandal centers on Masahiro Nakai, a former leader of Japan’s once-hugely popular boy band SMAP, and his costly settlement with a woman over the alleged sex assault at a 2023 dinner party that Fuji TV staff allegedly helped to organize.

The allegations surfaced in magazine articles in December and have since triggered claims of systematic cover-ups by Fuji TV executives. The public outrage over the lack of transparency and explanation at the network's earlier news conference this month have led to an avalanche of advertising losses at Fuji, one of the networks where Nakai worked.

Fuji Television Network President Koichi Minato said his company mishandled the case.

“We are very sorry that we mishandled the case because of our lack of awareness about human rights and corporate governance… and as a result our responses to the involved woman were inadequate,” Minato said. “We are very sorry to have destroyed our credibility.”

Minato said the case violated the woman's human rights, without providing details on grounds of privacy. He said it was handled as an “extraordinary” case requiring maximum confidentiality and sensitivity for the woman's mental health and was shared by a small group of officials. The company had continued allowing Nakai to appear on Fuji