(Bloomberg) — Fuji Media Holdings Inc. created an environment that exposed young employees to the risk of sexual harassment and assault, an independent investigation found.
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An external committee said on Monday it found evidence that former J-pop idol Masahiro Nakai, who used to be one of Japan’s most prominent presenters, sexually assaulted a woman who was then employed by the broadcaster. Nakai had previously denied allegations of assault, acknowledging only that harassment had occurred. Other Fuji Media employees did not appear to be involved in the incident, but executives were too quick to dismiss the allegation of assault as a private matter, unrelated to work, it said.
“The workplace culture was tolerant of sexual harassment,” Akira Takeuchi, committee chair and partner at Proact Law Office, said at a news conference. Many were made to feel they could not jeopardize the broadcaster’s relationship with celebrities, according to the report.
Female announcers in particular were made to feel that their work responsibilities included entertaining prominent business partners and TV guests. Power imbalances with executives in charge of casting made them vulnerable, fostering a climate where harassment regularly occurred, the group of legal experts said.
Fuji Television Network Inc.’s former President Koichi Minato and other executives encouraged this culture, according to a more than 250-page report submitted to the broadcaster.
The operator of one of Japan’s most popular TV networks, Fuji Media has been struggling to regain its footing after its handling of the scandal around Nakai scared off advertisers and hurt its ratings, leaving it open to attacks from activist investors. The panel was formed after investors and sponsors clamored for information on how the broadcaster failed to address the scandal for well over a year.
“We take the findings of the third-party committee seriously,” Fuji Television President Kenji Shimizu told reporters. “We sincerely apologize for the pain we caused to the victim. We did not do enough.”
In December, a local tabloid reported Nakai had sexually harassed a woman. Widespread anger over the handling of the June 2023 incident resulted in an exodus of advertisers, including Toyota Motor Corp., Seven & i Holdings Co. and Suntory Holdings Ltd., and forced Fuji Media to slash its earnings outlook.
Nakai, who continued to appear as a host on the network after the incident, issued a public apology to the victim, with whom he’d reached a settlement, and retired from show business. A raft of executives, including influential former chairman Hisashi Hieda, has since resigned.
Rising Sun Management, adviser to Fuji Media investor Nippon Active Value Fund, had called for an independent probe as well as Hieda’s resignation, saying the 87-year-old held “absolute control and influence” over the boards of both Fuji Media and Fuji TV. NAV and Dalton Investments, which are both managed by James Rosenwald, are together Fuji Media’s third-largest shareholder.
(Updates with panel findings on allegations against Masahiro Nakai from the second paragraph.)
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