The Clear Divide in Masahiro Nakai and Kimura Takuya’s Responses to Women’s Scandals

Regular TV programs are being terminated or dropped one after another

On January 20, following reports about a “900 million yen settlement” involving a woman and talent Masahiro Nakai (52), TBS announced that his regular show “Nakai Masahiro’s Friday Smile (KinSuma)” would be canceled, and he would also be leaving “THE MC3.” This marks the first cancellation of a regular program for Nakai after the trouble was reported.

TBS had already postponed the airing of both shows since the beginning of the year, replacing them with movies and variety programs. The reason for the cancellation and Nakai’s departure was explained as a result of comprehensive consideration of the situation.

On the 17th, Fujitv’s Koichi Minato, the president of the company, held a press conference and apologized after reports emerged that an employee had been involved in the issue with Nakai. Despite the apology, the content of the press conference received criticism, and from the following day, CM sponsors such as Toyota, NTT East Japan, and Kao began announcing their cancellation of commercial ads. As a result, TBS also realized it could no longer remain on the sidelines and made the decision to end the shows.

Meanwhile, Nakai’s former SMAP colleague, Takuya Kimura (52), has been receiving attention for his career as a result of the huge success of his movie “Grand Maison Paris,” which was released on December 30. The film grossed 2.34 billion yen in its first 16 days. Additionally, due to Kimura’s lack of major female-related scandals, there has been a resurgence of fans re-evaluating him online.

While Nakai and Kimura have now clearly diverged, recent revelations about their past relationships with women have been highlighted, and these stories have sparked discussions regarding their current public images.