Japan's public broadcaster NHK said Wednesday it will contract entertainers from Starto Entertainment Inc, the successor to the scandal-hit male talent agency Johnny & Associates Inc., after deeming measures to compensate the victims of sexual abuses by its late founder are progressing.
The decision, effective the same day, includes allowing performers from the agency to appear on the network's year-end live music show "Kohaku Uta Gassen," or red and white song contest, NHK President Nobuo Inaba said at a press conference.
"We have confirmed that in addition to compensation for the victims and efforts to prevent recurrence, the separation of management is also steadily progressing," said Inaba.
The broadcaster halted new contracts with performers from the agency in September last year, following allegations from hundreds of people who claimed they were sexually abused by the company's founder, Johnny Kitagawa, who died in 2019.
As a result, no performers from the agency were invited to the year-end music show last year for the first time in 44 years.
Starto Entertainment was established to manage performers from Johnny & Associates in the wake of the scandal, while the company itself was renamed Smile-Up Inc and is now dedicated to providing redress to the sexual abuse victims.
Smile-Up, which will be disbanded once the victims have been compensated, said it had reached compensation agreements with 510 people as of Tuesday.
TV Tokyo Corp, the only major commercial broadcaster to have suspended new contracts with Starto Entertainment performers, also said earlier this month it would end the suspension.
Johnny's was formed in 1962 and went on to propel SMAP, Arashi and numerous other groups to stardom. Allegations against Kitagawa came under renewed scrutiny after a BBC documentary was aired in March last year featuring interviews with multiple people claiming to have been abused by the pop mogul.
© KYODO
20 Comments
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リッチ
Always thought it was strange that the victims were punished by NHK by them not hiring them after the boss sexually assaulted many of them. I mean why not hire them directly instead of not supporting them. The whole company thing is creepy as well with the name they picked. And NHK execs and pretty much everyone in the industry knew what was going on. Only the boys have been the victims and basically punished. Go figure.
zones2surf
Penalizing individuals for the actions of a horrible company is wrong.
But...
The company should not benefit from their participation!
Capuchin
Disgusting. No legal repercussions for those responsible and complicit in the sexual abuse of 1000's of young boys.
Instead "smile-up" is allowed hold behind closed doors meetings with its victims to decide how much it wants to compensate them. Meetings victims have claimed feel more like interrogations.
https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15461159
MarkX
No surprise! NHK saw that their ratings were dismal last year without these "entertainers" so they will welcome them back with open arms.
Rich, they were banned because as you said many themselves were assaulted, but when they had a chance to speak up and help others they did nothing. Some may have taken part in the assaults as well. Thus they were banned. And I don't agree with NHK that the new company has done enough, but money talks so let the circus begin.
Fighto!
Sad to see that this bad rubbish are allowed back on screens.
Starto Entertainment AKA Johnny's AKA Smile Up is one big paedophile ring.
gokai_wo_maneku
I also don't think that the talented singers should be made to suffer because of the actions of one dead man. We should let them shine. They are still some of my favorite singers.
Yubaru
Interesting point of view, wanting to blame and punish the victims and not those that were guilty of the abuse.
Fighto!
We are talking about the company and the executives - the ones making huge money, and have historically turned a blind eye to child abuse.
No one is blaming these teenage boys who have been molested. They should be performing independently or through another company, not the rebadged company of paedophile enablers.
Fighto!
With great respect, you are a middle-aged man, right?
Johnny's boys are still some of your favourite singers?
Droll Quarry
No one is blaming these teenage boys who have been molested. They should be performing independently or through another company, not the rebadged company of paedophile enablers.
They bear a degree of responsibility. At some point they were old enough to speak out, instead they continued to take the money and turn a blind eye while other kids were trapped in the system by perverted predators.
Yubaru
Nice try, but no, you wrote the following
The producers and agency are not the one's "on screen" it's the boys and men that work for them, the victims in this, are the one's "on screen" and you also try to associate with the group by stating "we" but it's YOU that wrote that, and are 100% wrong.
The victims are not and never have been "bad rubbish"
WoodyLee
Sorry, but does anyone still watches NHK shows??
WoodyLee
NHK will do anything to keep alive and relevant.
WoodyLee
Q? when will NHK stand alone and stop ripping off the general public by forcing them to pay monthly fee for having a TV at home even when they do not watch it or even wish to subscribe to it's obsolete programs ???
PBS is fully independent and relies on public donations and major advertisers, NHK can do the same and STOP it's SCAM.
chikv
The NHK depends completely on these groups and entertainers for the kohaku musical program, no surprises here.
Fighto!
@ Yubaru - Fair enough. I guess we have established you like watching Johnny's boys. No judgement.
Enjoy Kohaku Uta Gassen!
kohakuebisu
Japanese entertainment is a closed shop. Fewer people watch tv every year so if this upsets you, don't worry, the closed shop is not "winning".
I think its fair to assume that Kpop wouldn't be as big in Japan had Jpop not been a closed shop and ditched the same old for more RnB influenced music and ditched kawaii for sexy like Kpop. The big trend for golden hour "variety" tv now is whole programs sponsored by convenience stores, Mega Donki, Costco, or electrical stores. Instead of playing games or doing quizzes like the old days, talentos spend an hour walking around a store or eating ice creams from Lawsons. This is because tv companies are clearly desparate for money.
MilesTeg
It's not fair that individual performers be barred from the show. Let them participate and perform. But in no way should Starto/Smile Up be allowed to profit from their performances on the show specifically.
tamanegi
One of the worst if not the worst scandal in the Japanese entertainment world. It was covered up for so long and it took one brave BBC reporter Moheen Azhar to expose it. NHK and the broader Japanese media never covered it and only reluctantly did when victims of this sexual abuse came forward via Azhar's documentary.
https://youtu.be/rmF6mDZjZZw?si=dQz0uAYFh9laam2w
virusrex
The problem is that this can't be done without explicitly acknowledging the renamed agency as appropriate and positive, which opens a huge can of worms.
As long as the "talents" of the agency are used that means it will profit, even if not a single yen is paid the agency is being recognized and accepted, getting good publicity and justifying that other companies do business with them, after all the NHK is saying everything is fine.