Masahiro Nakai Retires as TV Stations Tighten Transparency Amid Fuji TV Scandal

Masahiro Nakai (52), former member of SMAP, who had been facing issues with women, announced his retirement from the entertainment industry on January 23.

Regarding reports of Fuji TV employees being involved in Nakai’s troubles with women, on January 22, Toru Ota (66), president of Kansai TV and former senior executive director of Fuji TV’s programming division at the time of the incident in 2023, held a press conference in Osaka.

Unlike Fuji TV president Koichi Minato, Otani allowed various media outlets to attend and permitted video recording.

The programming department with the power to decide the life and death of a show

President Otani became aware of the trouble immediately after it happened and reportedly informed President Minato by the end of the day. During the press conference, he reflected:

“After the trouble, there were the autumn and spring programming revisions. Within that, there was a possibility of abruptly canceling the show, but I carefully considered what impact such a move would have on her. I didn’t have the intention of protecting Nakai. Rather, I focused on what the best course of action would be to protect her.”

He recalled that, 

under the principle of protecting the victim rather than cutting Nakai, the show continued.

“The programming department has the life-and-death power to cancel shows, as well as the authority to decide the budget allocation. Mr. A, who was suspected of involvement, was the programming director. At the time, Mr. Otani was the senior executive director of programming, above the programming department head, making him the top of the top in the show production hierarchy.

The responsibility for continuing Nakai’s show without any problems is immense. It could be seen as not for protecting the woman or Nakai, but for protecting the TV station itself.”

In the end, Dareka to Nakai was put on hiatus, and it was announced that the show would end by the end of March.