<figure id="attachment_354751" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-354751" style="width: 576px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8cee360e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/01/211b0ef43d757e7e86537b0ca8a99e94-1.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-354751" class="wp-caption-text">Matsumoto Hitoshi&#8217;s sexual scandal has upset even junior comedians at Yoshimoto Kogyo. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
 Yoshimoto Kogyo is not accepting individual questions regarding this matter and is refusing all inquiries.
 Yoshimoto Kogyo has indicated that it will not respond to individual questions about &#8220;Downtown&#8221; Hitoshi Matsumoto&#8217;s allegations of sexual assault or his scandal involving women.
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 Matsumoto himself has stopped sending out any information after saying on X that he would appear on the &#8220;Wide Nah Show,&#8221; but only the &#8220;Shukan Bunshun&#8221; report has progressed to the third installment of the series.
 The only thing that has been reported in the &#8220;Weekly Bunshun&#8221; is that he has been on the third episode of the show. Tamura Kenji and Hakata Daikichi have also admitted this. However, we do not know whether it was for sexual purposes or if there was sexual assault.
 It is not a situation that can be extinguished, and since women are appearing one after another to testify, it has reached a level where Mr. Matsumoto cannot explain each and every one of them individually. If he cannot solve the problem, he will not be able to attract sponsors, and it will be very difficult for him to return to the TV industry.
 Amid the chaos, Yoshimoto&#8217;s comedians are divided in their views.
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 Former R-1 Grand Prix champion Miura Maildo wrote in X
 A person who commits sexual assault cannot create laughter. This is true. It&#8217;s hard to explain, but it&#8217;s skin deep. I don&#8217;t think there is a single comedian who thinks Mr. Matsumoto was a sexual abuser.
 I don&#8217;t believe the testimonies, as long as there is no evidence of sexual assault.
 He said that he does not trust the testimonies of the women who appeared in the Weekly Bunshun.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Imada, who is close to Matsumoto, could not hide his confusion. ......"></div>
On the other hand, when Norio Nishikawa appeared as a guest on &#8220;Masuda Masuda&#8217;s Radio Hunter&#8221; (ABC Radio) on March 18, he said
 I&#8217;ve been with Yoshimoto for 53 years now, and I think the company made an initial mistake.
 He said, &#8220;I&#8217;ve been with Yoshimoto for 53 years, but it must have been a mistake on the company&#8217;s part.
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 I&#8217;ll look into it. I&#8217;ll look into it for now, and I&#8217;ll ask him about the situation.
 I&#8217;ll look into it for now. He added, &#8220;I really had nothing to do with it.
 If there was really nothing wrong with me, I wouldn&#8217;t have taken a leave of absence. If there was nothing wrong with me, I wouldn&#8217;t have to suspend my activities.
 Even if you get a sponsor off the hook, if you are clean, you can continue.
 He also questioned Matsumoto&#8217;s actions.
 Koji Imada appeared on Yomiuri TV&#8217;s &#8220;Koji Imada&#8217;s Spoiler MTG&#8221; broadcast on January 20,
 I can&#8217;t ask directly from my juniors, &#8216;What&#8217;s going on? I can&#8217;t ask directly from my juniors, &#8216;What&#8217;s going on? The information is available at &#8230;&#8230;.&#8221;
 Imada, who is a close junior, said that he and Matsumoto have not talked about the commotion,
 He said, &#8220;(London Boots No. 1 and No. 2&#8217;s atsushi Tamura) also said that what was spoken at X was still &#8230;&#8230; factual, so there was not even a drinking party at all, and that there was a drinking party.
 The people who participated in the meeting expressed their own opinions in different mother groups, and their stories were different, so I don&#8217;t know which one to look at and which one to think about.
 I don&#8217;t know which one to look at and which one to think about,&#8221; he said, unable to hide his bewilderment.
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 Bunshun&#8221; is a story about a Yoshimoto executive asking a young comedian, &#8220;How was it yesterday? Did you find any good talent? If this is true, then Yoshimoto&#8217;s executives must have been in the wrong. If this is true, it means that Yoshimoto&#8217;s employees were aware of the &#8220;female payoff system&#8221; for Mr. Matsumoto.
 This would call into question the compliance awareness of Yoshimoto, which is now not only a production company for comedians, but also works with governments, municipalities, and cities around the world. At any rate, there is no doubt that there is a growing sense of upset among the comedians.
 While there is a lot of criticism, there is also a certain segment of the population that &#8220;believes in the charismatic Matsumoto Hitoshi. Where will this turmoil end up?

 Ippei Hara

 Downtown comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi's sexual scandal has caused a stir. It has been reported that some of his junior comedians have been "paying off" women to him, but the Yoshimoto comedians are not so sure. ......

Yoshimoto comedians divided over Hitoshi Matsumoto&#8217;s sexual scandal: &#8220;There is no proof&#8221; and &#8220;If it&#8217;s not true, keep going.

Yoshimoto comedians divided over Hitoshi Matsumoto’s sexual scandal: “There is no proof” and “If it’s not true, keep going.

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