Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Influence Behind the End of Downtown DX Despite Masatoshi Hamada’s Return to Work

The launch of a new award competition, along with archive broadcasts

The comedy duo Downtown, consisting of Hitoshi Matsumoto (61) and Masatoshi Hamada (61), will begin distributing their original content, Downtown Channel (tentative), this summer.

Hamada had been on a hiatus due to health issues since March but made his return to work by appearing on MBS Radio’s Gobu Gobu Radio in the early hours of May 2.

As for Matsumoto, it seems likely that his focus will be on the subscription-based Downtown Channel (tentative).

In preparation for Downtown’s return, Yoshimoto Kogyo established a fund in December last year to raise money for the production of videos and other content. It appears they are considering large-scale original content for Downtown as well.

“According to an April 26 article in Sports Nippon, Matsumoto is considering launching a new award competition and also distributing archives of content like Documental on Amazon Prime. For fans waiting for his return, it looks like there will be a wealth of highly anticipated content,” said a sports newspaper reporter.

On the other hand, while Matsumoto has finished his lawsuit with Shukan Bunshun and is in a position to return to work at any time, there is no sign of him returning to regular TV programs. In fact, the long-running Downtown DX (Nippon TV, produced by Yomiuri TV), which has been on air for about 32 years, was announced to be ending on June 26.

A Yomiuri TV insider explained:

“There was an announcement that the show would end due to the wishes of the two members of Downtown, but I’ve heard that the decision to cancel the show was actually made by the Yomiuri TV president and chairman as a top-down decision. Especially, Chairman Yoshimitsu Ohashi is known for his integrity and strong sense of justice, and he harbored a strong aversion to Matsumoto’s troubles. While they wanted Hamada to return, it seems there was a clear intention not to have Matsumoto appear on the show.”

Although Matsumoto’s lawsuit with Bunshun is over, he still carries the image of having had troubles with women, including rumors of infidelity. He was also closely associated with a certain Fuji TV executive, referred to as B, who was involved in a scandal with Shunichi Nakai.

Even without Matsumoto, DX could have continued

“The third-party committee’s report mentioned examples anonymously, but later, Tunnels’ Takashi Ishibashi was named. If any reports about Matsumoto from Fuji TV come out in the future, it will cause a fatal blow. If Hamada returns, Downtown DX could have continued even without Matsumoto, as it did before.” (A Yomiuri TV insider)

When Yomiuri TV was asked, “Was the decision to end the program strongly influenced by Chairman Ohashi and other top executives?” the response was:

“There is no such fact as mentioned in your question.”

However,

“Chairman Ohashi declared that all programs will be reviewed from scratch, and indeed, national broadcasts like Wake Up and the historic Asa Para SA as well as Koji Imada’s Netabare MTG were successively canceled. Amidst this, even programs hosted by big names like Downtown were not exempt. This is truly a no taboos approach to program restructuring,” said another Yomiuri TV insider.

While Hamada has successfully returned to work, Matsumoto still remains out of the public eye. It seems the next time we will see him may be in the world of the internet.