<figure id="attachment_409666" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 5007px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409666"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a274692f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/85441e2295ef22d9350bf143aea96376-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409666" class="wp-caption-text">Masahiro Nakai&#8217;s (left) trouble with women puts Fuji TV on the brink of extinction.</figcaption></figure>
The trouble that occurred between former &#8220;SMAP&#8221; member Nakai Masahiro (52) and a former female employee of Fuji TV has been making headlines. There are whispers of suspicions that a senior executive from Fuji TV arranged a dinner but canceled at the last minute, leaving Nakai and the woman alone, but the truth remains unclear.
On January 17, Fuji TV President Koichi Minato revealed in a press conference that he had been aware of the incident shortly after it happened in June 2023.
However, he denied any employee involvement and expressed his belief that there was no sexual entertainment. He announced that an investigation would be entrusted to a newly established third-party committee led by a lawyer.
<h2>Producers hinted that they would appear in the film</h2>
If female announcers or employees were made to engage in sexual entertainment to appease a producer with casting power or a prominent talent as the MC, it would become a human rights issue. Although such rumors have long circulated within the entertainment industry, one might wonder if such entertainment against women&#8217;s will still exists today.
When interviewed by a television industry insider, the following insight was shared:
&#8220;There are various patterns, but the first is when production company representatives assign their own talent to producers or leading talent. If the agency is unscrupulous, there is a risk that the producer could be recorded or taped. If the producer doesn&#8217;t cast their talent, they could be blackmailed later. There are also cases where a producer hints at casting a talent and then pursues a relationship with them.&#8221;
&#8220;Entertainment&#8221; is not exclusive to the television networks. Such power dynamics can also emerge within production companies themselves.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="There have been dinners with female announcers for a long time. ......"></div>
<h2>Female announcers have surprisingly few encounters</h2>
&#8220;It’s a terrible story, but there are production companies where managers in charge of multiple female talents will use &#8216;internal pillow sales&#8217;—if a talent refuses a sexual relationship, they won’t get work. In the past, there were also extreme cases where a top-tier talent pressured a co-star to &#8216;sleep with me,&#8217; and when she refused, the celebrity sulked and didn’t show up for the recording, causing delays.&#8221; (Television industry insider)
People with power wield it to make others comply. Especially in fields like acting and singing, where there are no numerical standards to measure talent like in sports, those with decision-making power are more likely to dominate.
After the issue involving Fuji TV, there has been a change in the television industry:
&#8220;Since the news about Fuji, there’s been an unspoken air of not inviting female announcers to drinking parties among close friends. Honestly, inviting announcers to dinner has always happened. They enjoy it, and not all female announcers come reluctantly. They actually have fewer opportunities to meet people, which is why there are so many internal marriages. Some even directly ask, &#8216;How can I meet professional athletes?&#8217; So, when there are dinners with famous people, some of them say, &#8216;I’d love to go.&#8217; And it sometimes leads to exchanging contact information and starting a relationship, even marriage. It’s quite troublesome when &#8216;dinner = sexual entertainment&#8217; becomes associated with it.&#8221; (Television industry insider)
A regular dinner and the &#8220;last-minute canceled dinner&#8221; with Nakai are different things. But it&#8217;s clear that not only Fuji TV but also other television stations are facing intense scrutiny regarding their dinner parties.

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