Japan boy band agency Smile-Up admits two more employees committed sexual abuse
TOKYO – Japan’s biggest and most successful boy band agency has admitted that two more employees carried out sexual abuse, months after it said its late founder had abused young aspiring stars.
The two employees of Johnny & Associates were “firmly dealt with” in 2023, the company, which has changed its name to Smile-Up, said on March 28.
Disgraced music mogul Johnny Kitagawa died of stroke in July 2019 aged 87, after engineering the birth of J-pop mega-groups including Smap, Tokio and Arashi, which amassed adoring fans across Asia.
But his legacy was posthumously tarnished in 2023 by cascading revelations about his decades-long sexual abuse of young boys seeking stardom under his tutelage.
In August, a report published by a task force investigating Kitagawa’s crimes said that in addition to him, “other staff at the agency were confirmed to have perpetrated sex abuse”, providing no details of the number of employees involved.
But on March 28, Smile-Up clarified that there had been two additional offenders, following an interview which agency head Noriyuki Higashiyama gave to British broadcaster BBC.
BBC’s documentary on Kitagawa’s predatory history in 2023 prompted soul-searching.
Up until now, “we have refrained from elaborating on their cases to protect the privacy of those involved, and prevent defamation against them”, Smile-Up said in a statement.
“None of those who have reported to us sexual abuse (by Kitagawa) have made detailed complaints against” the two, it added. “But should complaints arise in future, we will investigate them and sincerely redress the survivors.” – AFP
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