<figure id="attachment_370398" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-370398" style="width: 699px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3e924f83"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/e124c9404c555cbdb4ab410bd029f780.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-370398" class="wp-caption-text">Downtown&#8221; Hitoshi Matsumoto (left) and Kausu Nakata, who accused him of sexual assault, in a legal battle over allegations of sexual assault.</figcaption></figure>
 Yoshimoto Kogyo has been rocked by allegations of sexual coercion made by &#8220;Downtown&#8221; star Matsumoto Hitoshi.
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 It all started with a report in the &#8220;Weekly Bunshun&#8221; late last year that Matsumoto forced a woman to perform sexual acts on him at a drinking party held at a hotel in Tokyo. Matsumoto suspended his entertainment activities on January 8, and filed a lawsuit against Bungei Shunju, seeking 550 million yen in damages.
 In the meantime, Nakata Kausu, a powerful figure in Yoshimoto, criticized Matsumoto on Friday.
 He said, &#8220;Matsumoto is out. If he really laid his hands on a customer, an amateur,&#8221; he said.
 Kausu Nakata, a powerful Yoshiyoshi performer, criticized Matsumoto on Friday.
 If a comedian has a sense of respect for his customers, he would not feel that way.
 He also condemned the incident.
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 He also addressed the former president of Yoshimoto Kogyo, Hiroshi Osaki, who is said to be the &#8220;father of Downtown.
 In my 57 years as a comedian at Yoshimoto Kogyo, the biggest mistake I made was making Osaki the president,&#8221; he said.
 In return, he responded, &#8220;I am not the one who is in charge of the current Akira Okamoto. In return, he declared that he would &#8220;support&#8221; current president Akihiko Okamoto.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" As if to speak for Matsumoto&#39;s feelings of &quot;silence,&quot; ......"></div>
The impact of this &#8220;Kaus Question and Answer&#8221; was so great that the manager of a certain Yoshimoto comedian said
 This is the world of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. You can&#8217;t get involved in this. It would be terrible to be divided into the Matsumoto faction and the Kausu faction. All we low-ranking staff have to do is to do our daily work.
 He grumbles, &#8220;What&#8217;s so &#8216;frightening&#8217; about it?
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 What is &#8220;frightening&#8221; is that Matsumoto still belongs to Yoshimoto Kogyo, even though he has suspended his activities. Depending on the outcome of the trial with Bunshun, there is a possibility that he may return to the public stage, but Kaus has just kicked him to the curb.
 It is as if he is saying to Matsumoto, &#8220;Even if you come back, there is no place for you. The situation in Yoshimoto is very tense.
 Then, an article focusing on Kausu&#8217;s dark activities in the Yoshimoto family feud of 2007 and his relationship with antisocial forces appeared in some of the media.
 It is said that this is a counterattack by the group that protects Mr. Matsumoto at all costs, commonly known as &#8220;Matsumoto Hitoshi wo Mamoru Kai. It is said that instead of Mr. Matsumoto himself being unable to move, some people are working to shape public opinion&#8221; (source from an entertainment professional who knows what goes on behind the scenes).
 On another day, several media outlets reported that Matsumoto&#8217;s side may file a human rights complaint with the BPO (Broadcasting Policy and Ethics Organization) against Miyaneya (NTV), an information program that treated Matsumoto as if he were black in a series of disturbances, on the grounds that the program was biased.
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 Everyone was scratching their heads and saying, &#8220;How is that possible? &#8230;&#8230;&#8221; It was said that this was another attempt by the &#8220;Association to Protect Mr. Matsumoto&#8221; to censure Miyaneya.
 Immediately after this report, Matsumoto, who was about to make his first oral argument, issued a statement.
 I have always aspired to make people laugh. I am simply bewildered, frustrated, and saddened by the absurdity that so many people can no longer laugh at me, that so many innocent younger people are involved, and that my claims are being drowned out and not accepted. I want the world to know the truth, and I want to do comedy as soon as possible.
 I want the world to know the truth, and I want to do comedy as soon as possible,&#8221; he said.
 In his statement, Mr. Matsumoto himself did not name the BPO, but it appeared that he was concerned about the biased reporting. If that is the case, it is possible that the BPO article that was published earlier was linked to Mr. Matsumoto. There must be someone very close to Mr. Matsumoto who is a member of the &#8220;association.
 Meanwhile, Yoshimoto is making its &#8220;departure from Matsumoto&#8221; clear.
 On March 27, a compliance seminar was held in Tokyo for the comedians belonging to the company, where the importance of &#8220;social responsibility&#8221; and &#8220;crisis management&#8221; was stressed.
 President Okamoto gave an opening address. Talk topics included heterosexual relationships and sexual assault. Although Matsumoto-san&#8217;s name was not mentioned, some participants felt as if it was a guess,&#8221; said a sports newspaper reporter.
 It seems that not only the trial with Bungei Shunju, but also the &#8220;dark battle&#8221; over Matsumoto is being waged within Yoshimoto.

 Ippei Hara (Matsumoto), Kei Kato (Nakata)

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