Unremoved and Going Viral: The Strange Case of Mr. B’s Video in the Masahiro Nakai Scandal

On June 5, Fuji TV announced that disciplinary actions were taken on June 2 regarding former talent Masahiro Nakai’s (52) alleged misconduct involving a female.

The spotlight is especially on Mr. B, who was the Programming Director of the Network Programming Division when Nakai’s incident occurred, according to a third-party committee report. Mr. B, who was reportedly close to Nakai, is said to have facilitated a connection between him and the female Fuji TV announcer later identified as a victim of sexual violence.

According to the announcement, Mr. B was demoted four levels for three incidents: Nakai’s case, and two other drinking party incidents where female employees were allegedly harassed after being arranged to meet Nakai or other performers. Additionally, he received a one-month disciplinary suspension for his own harassment of a junior female colleague.

“Inside the company, there are voices asking, ‘Why wasn’t he dismissed?’ Sure, Mr. B may have contributed significantly to program production in the past, but isn’t this too lenient? That said, now that he’s been demoted to a non-executive position, he likely won’t be allowed to interact with outsiders anymore. Resigning seems to be his only real option at this point,” said a Fuji TV employee.

Amid this, an old video involving Mr. B has been gaining attention online. The video, uploaded on August 25, 2021, to the official YouTube channel of Fuji TV’s variety show Atarashii Kagi (A New Key), which Mr. B helped launch and produce, is titled:

“[Special Project] A Deep Dive into the Habits of Producer ○○ (Mr. B’s real name) as Played by Matsuo! Tons of Unreleased Scenes Too.”

In the video, comedian Shun Matsuo of ChocoLate Planet impersonates Mr. B, wearing a typical industry insider outfit—matching suit set with a T-shirt—while holding an iPad (supposedly with scripts) and acting overly deferential toward the cast. The skit humorously depicts Mr. B’s quirks, such as leaning in eagerly when big names are announced, going all-out for the company, bragging in front of celebrities, and getting random calls from stars. At one point, he boasted about casting both Nakai and Downtown’s Hitoshi Matsumoto (61) for a special program.

Are they making an example out of him by exposing him?

As of June 14, the video had reached 338,000 views, and the comments section was flooded with reactions such as, “It’s funny how they can’t delete it because that would be admitting it’s true,” “The fact that they mention Matsumoto and Nakai proves it’s legit,” and “Maybe Fuji TV is too disorganized right now to even think about deleting the video, lol.”

“According to the report, Mr. B acted as a go-between for Mr. Nakai and the former female announcer, sending emails to Nakai like, ‘She’s quite something. Should I innocently send her a LINE message?’ and ‘I think the issue has settled down. If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll act on it!’”

“He even visited the victim’s hospital room to hand over a get-well gift from Mr. Nakai and introduced a lawyer. These actions, taken on behalf of Nakai, were cited as potentially secondary victimization and inappropriate conduct and were among the reasons for his disciplinary action.”

“Even aside from this scandal, Mr. B was known for accompanying female Fuji staff to parties with celebrities and was seen as a textbook example of a rising employee in the old Fuji culture—he’s a symbol of the outdated system. That’s why it seems natural to delete the video but on the contrary, it almost feels like they’re making an example of him by leaving it up,” said one entertainment reporter.

When asked why Fuji TV hasn’t taken the video down, they responded:

“We do not comment on the specifics of how our video platforms are operated. (Please note that this answer is based on the premise that we do not acknowledge Mr. B and the character portrayed by Chocolate Planet’s Shun Matsuo as being the same individual.)”

The comment suggesting deleting it would confirm it’s true might not be far off the mark.

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