When the leaders of the main Japanese transmitter withdrew to take responsibility for the treatment of accusation of sexual assault, it should be a ritual show of regret in corporate Japan. Instead, a press conference on the announcement of resignations has changed into a marathon speech of social outrage, as executives faced a public grilling that lasted 10 hours.
Fuji, President and TV President, resigned on Monday evening after acknowledging that the incorrect incident in which the host Star TV admitted that the silence had paid money to an unnamed woman for the incident that occurred in June 2023. When the main corporations have attracted advertising to protest against Fuji TV do not fulfill measures, despite the fact that they learn the incident as soon as it happened.
The Ad boycott turned into a basinHe directed public anger not only against the TV star, Masahiro Nakai, a former member of the famous Group for Boys Idol, who later became a popular host of the show, but also his employer. Fuji TV faced the accusation that employees helped organize the original meeting with the woman and that the leadership looked the opposite when Mr. Nakai tried to cover it.
In Corporate Japan, the practice is accepted so that the top executives respond to harmful scandals of resignations, usually supplied with deep bows of offspring in front of banks of flashing cameras. But in this case they failed to calm the feeling of outrage they many shared At a press conferencewho attracted about 400 journalists and others to the futuristic silver residence of Fuji TV Na Tokyo Bay.
“Fuji thought the resignation of the President and the chairman would be enough, but their logic was bad,” he said Takahiko KageyamaProfessor of media at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, who examines the entertainment industry. “Instead, it made the executive trying to hide something.”
To the event that Fuji TV was broadcast in full, President of Koichi Minato; its chairman Shuji Kano; And other company executives faced demanding questions and angry Harang, which stretched late into the night. As many speakers started into long lectures, the executives kept the speeches of the festive penitent.
The press conference was occasionally transferred to the screaming match: they shouted each other to require society to explain their behavior and reveal more. There was at least one 15 -minute bathroom break, after which everyone sat down to continue grilling.
Fuji TV threw the door after he faced criticism that she was insufficiently transparent and included selected media only when she organized an earlier press conference. While many participants have identified themselves as representing established local media, others said they were independent workers and influences of social media.
President Fuji TV said that a company that has its own news operation responded to the criticism that it was holding a double standard.
“Our company has used our own cameras to devote itself to suspicious behavior,” Minato told the auditorium. “We take criticism to the heart of avoiding the cameras of others.” We are aware that it has shaken our credibility. ”
The case came out last month after the weekly boulevard revealed the payment by Mr. Nakai (52), who announced his retirement from the exhibition business last week. Bubloid, called Josei Seven, said Mr. Nakai caused “serious problems” with a woman who resulted in paying her 90 million yen or almost $ 600,000.
Mr. Nakai acknowledged that there was an “incident” for which he had settled the unspecified amount. While he did not offer any details, the subsequent media reports said the incident was a non -consumption sexual act. Mr Nakai said he did not use any violence, and there was no official investigation, but the case in Japan hit the nerve to reveal the extreme version of the problems that women face in the workplace.
The 10 -hour press conference is unheard of in Japan as in most other countries. Despite the length of Fuji TV, she revealed several new details on Monday and said the incident would be investigated by an independent committee. Many of the comments dealt with Fuji TV’s decision to employ Mr. Nakai as a number of their performances and for protecting the woman.
In response to questions, President Fuji TV said he had not made major programming changes to avoid the “upset” of the victim, although he admitted that it was probably a mistake in retrospect. Mr. Minato also refused to say whether the victim was an employee of Fuji, although he said he had encountered her after the incident.
“Unfortunately, she couldn’t return to work as she hoped,” the president said, “but she came to say goodbye because she left the work on her own will.”
During the press conference, the questions also focused on the location of the man who built Fuji TV in the entertainment giant and which experts said that the culture controlled by men, which is the basis of its current problems. Hisashi Hieda, 87 -year -old former President Fuji TV, who is now chairman of his parent company, Fujisankei Communications GroupHe has not appeared at any press conference and still has to talk about a scandal threatening society.
While the executives Fuji said on Monday that Mr. Hieda did not play any role in the current scandal, observers said that resignation was at least partly an effort to protect him from control.
“This ritual was about the protection of the current situation by offering two scapegoats instead,” said Igor PrusaA researcher from a metropolitan university who wrote a book on manipulation with scandals in Japan.
