Otaku USA Magazine
DBZ Producer to Head Fuji TV After President Resigns Over Sexual Assault Scandal

There have been some shakeups at Fuji TV and its parent company Fuji Media Holdings Inc. after a sexual assault scandal rocked the network. Last month, the Japanese magazine Weekly Bunshun published a report alleging that Masahiro Nakai, who was once part of the band SMAP and has since become a TV host on Fuji TV, did some sort of sexual activity with a woman that was not consensual.

Nakai and the woman settled out of court to the tune of 90 million yen (approximately $580,000). According to the Weekly Bunshun, a Fuji TV programming official set up Nakai and the woman for a meal, after which Nakai assaulted her. (Fuji TV denies that one of their employees orchestrated the meeting between Nakai and his victim.) The report also alleged that Fuji TV president Koichi Minato knew about the sexual assault, but let a year and a half go by without doing anything about it.

After Weekly Bunshun’s report was published, many companies stopped putting their ads on the channel.

Minato has since resigned from Fuji TV, while another resignation came in from Fuji Media Holdings Inc’s chairman Shuji Kano. Nakai has retired.

Anime producer Kenji Shimizu is becoming the new president of Fuji TV, with some people hypothesizing that he was specifically chosen because the channel might want to do more anime programming. Some of the titles Shimizu has produced include Dragon Ball Z, Assassination Classroom, Scum’s Wish and Yu Yu Hakusho.

Shimizu has publicly promised that what happened before will not happen under his watch, saying, he’ll “never tolerate acts that violate human rights.” He likewise said that new policies are being put in place to keep something like this from occurring in the future. Some other Japanese channels are calling for their own investigations to make sure something similar hasn’t happened within their companies.

Source: ANN

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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.

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