Hey! Say! JUMP Faces Uncertain Future Amid Air Gun Incident Melancholy
On March 4, Fuji Television held a briefing on its April programming lineup at the station in Daiba, Tokyo, and announced the end of four programs featuring groups affiliated with SMILE-UP. (formerly Johnny’s). One of the programs was “Itadakari High Jump” by “Hey! Say! JUMP” (“JUMP”), which aired on Saturday mornings.
The show started in July ’15 in the late-night Wednesday slot, then moved to the Saturday noon and Saturday morning broadcast slots, but recently the ratings have been stagnant, hovering around the 2% range. The result was inevitable since TBS’s information program “King’s Brunch” is strong on Saturday mornings. Nevertheless, if the program returns to the late-night slot again, we cannot expect any viewer ratings at all. Frankly, I doubt if there is any merit in airing a new program.
Speaking of JUMP, the members recently talked about a post on X by Yoshimasa Iwahashi (45), a former member of the comedy duo Plus Minus, whose contract was to be terminated by Yoshimoto Kogyo.
The timing is unknown, but at a drinking party at an apartment hosted by comedian Daisuke Miyagawa (51), Iwahashi revealed that he had been shot by actress Yoko Maki (41) and JUMP’s Yusho Nakajima (30) with an air gun and demanded an apology. At the same time, he also revealed that JUMP’s Hiroki Arioka (32) and Yuya Takagi (33) were at that drinking party.
The truth was unclear, but JUMP fans were bothered by the fact that both Maki and JUMP’s offices decided to keep quiet. After all, Iwahashi opened a YouTube channel at the end of February. In the end, Iwahashi opened a YouTube channel at the end of February and posted an apology video there. The situation was settled without any further bother.
