It was smaller than expected… The damage left by the “victims” of the entertainment industry exposed by the “Gershie suspect”.
Yoshikazu Azumaya, 51, aka Garcy, a former member of the House of Councillors, was arrested and charged by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department at Narita Airport on suspicion of violating the Violent Activities Law (habitual threats) against celebrities and other prominent figures after returning from Dubai, where he was staying, on June 4. The arrest took place approximately one year and four months after his debut as a YouTuber on February 17, 2011.
He quickly surpassed 1 million subscribers as an “exposé-style YouTuber,” but his account was suspended after his exposés were scandalized by bigwigs, and he was forced to shift to his own online salon in August 2010.
In July 2010, he was elected to the upper house of the Diet, but he was expelled from the Diet in March of this year without ever having appeared before the Diet, citing that he “cannot eliminate the risk of being unjustly detained by state power. Later, he was ordered to return his passport, placed on an international arrest warrant, and arrested. It was a year and four months too long, but since last December, when talk of his expulsion began to emerge, he has been a benefactor to the TV stations, providing them with great material.
(A TV station source said, “After YouTube was launched, Gershie wrote the names of the TV personalities on a whiteboard and made a “exposure list” for the future, but the number of people on the list was physically impossible to begin with.
At first it was two or three times a week, but there was a tremendous number of people on the whiteboard,” Gurnsey said. It was like, ‘How long is this going to take if we do it all? That’s the level of it. As expected, most of the talent was not exposed to the material.
The three people who were exposed to serious stories by Gershie, who is beginning to gain popularity as a YouTuber, were actors Shirota Yu (37), Arata Mackenyu (26), and Ayano Go (41), who filed a damage report in the case that led to Gershie’s arrest.
All three have been exposed for their money and their stories of female relationships. Nevertheless, Shirota’s scheduled work was not affected, and Nitta, who for a time had no exposure in Japan at all, returned to Japan in April of this year for an event for a movie in which he starred. Ayano has no TV dramas but is set to star in movies one after another.
There were many other talents who were exposed for their detailed stories, but in the end, most of the media kept quiet about it and did not see it as a particular problem. But there was not a big response.
In the Upper House election for which he was first elected last July, he ran for the proportional district from the NHK Party (now the Political Women’s 48 Party), but despite making a pledge that was typical of Gershie, the pledge remained unfulfilled.
“In NHK’s political broadcasts in the 47 prefectures, I exposed not only celebrities but also famous athletes and entrepreneurs with their initials for a small amount of material. After winning the election, he promised to expose all of those initials under his own name, but he ended up exposing only about 10 of the 47 stories, which must have made anyone who had any idea what he was talking about feel relieved.
Then, after the YouTube channel was shut down, he moved to an online salon, where he clearly reveals less material than before. Instead, he had more collaborative projects with guests on the show, and drew in big stories, but even there he was unable to exert any influence.
Last November, I collaborated with Cowan Okamoto, a former Johnny’s Jr. member who accused the late Mr. Kitagawa, the founder of Johnny’s Office, of sexual assault. There, Mr. Cowan made his first confession of sexual abuse by Mr. Janney, but at that point, Mr. Cowan’s presence did not attract any attention at all. He also exposed the papa activities of several other famous actresses, but it did not affect their work at all.
Four months later, in March of this year, the British national broadcaster BBC aired a special program on the issue of sexual assault at Johnny’s’s office, which also brought Mr. Cowan’s existence to attention.
The revelation was dubbed the “Gershey Cannon” and celebrities and their offices feared it, but in hindsight, little damage was done to the “victims” who were exposed.
It has long been said that it is not so much what you say, but who you say it to that makes a big difference in your credibility. Gershie, the suspect, was all talk and no action, including campaign promises and the do-it-yourself scam of exposés. He may have had no credibility in such statements.
