Current:Home > FinanceBoy band talent agency's new president faces abuse allegations after founder's sexual assault scandal -Ascend Finance Compass
Boy band talent agency's new president faces abuse allegations after founder's sexual assault scandal
View
Date:2025-04-18 08:26:34
TOKYO — The head of a powerful Japanese talent agency resigned Thursday and made an apology punctuated by repeated, lengthy bows, nine days after an internal investigation concluded that its founder had sexually abused hundreds of young performers over decades.
Julie Keiko Fujishima announced she was stepping down as president of Johnny & Associates, the agency founded by her late uncle Johnny Kitagawa, and promised to contribute to a compensation fund from her own fortune.
“This is what my uncle committed, and as a niece, I want to take responsibility,” Fujishima said solemnly.
Fujishima said the alleged sex abuse had really happened and that she would stay on the company’s board to see through a victim compensation program.
A group of men who accused Kitagawa of raping them as children said they were pleased the company apologized, but some had reservations.
“The wounds in my heart will not heal,” Yukihiro Oshima told reporters. “But I feel a little better.”
Fujishima remains the sole owner of Johnny’s, and her replacement faces his own allegations of mistreating young performers.
Rumors that Kitagawa had abused children followed his career for decades, but his power allowed him to silence almost all allegations until his death in 2019. The company agreed to investigate earlier this year, after the BBC aired a documentary that spoke with several accusers and others began to come forward by name.
The three-month probe concluded that Johnny Kitagawa sexually assaulted and abused boys as far back as the 1950s and targeted at least several hundred people.
The company named a 56-year-old performer as its new leader. Noriyuki Higashiyama said he was retiring as an actor and singer to take the job, a role that will include overseeing compensation for men who were assaulted as children.
“A horrendous crime has been committed,” Higashiyama told reporters at a Tokyo hotel, bowing deeply with Fujishima.
“It will take time to win back trust, and I am putting my life on the line for this effort.”
Higashiyama immediately fielded questions about allegations that he had engaged in bullying or sexually abusing other Johnny’s boys.
“I don’t remember clearly; maybe it happened, maybe it didn’t,” he said.
He acknowledged he tended to be strict with younger performers, and that he may have done things as a teen or in his 20s that he would not do now.
A new company structure, which will include an outside compliance officer, will be announced next month, Fujishima said.
At one point, she choked down tears, stressing the achievements of the company’s singers and dancers.
“I only feel deep gratitude to all the fans,” she said.
Related:Investigation finds boy band talent agency founder sexually assaulted hundreds of teens
Kitagawa had been so powerful that she, and many others, had kept silent, she added.
The men who have come forward say Kitagawa raped, fondled and abused them while they were working for his company as dancers and singers.
Many of the victims were members of a backup group called Johnny’s Jr., who danced and sang behind bigger stars. One man who came forward recently said he was routinely molested when Kitagawa had yet to found his company. He was just 8 years old.
Higashiyama denied he was a victim. He said Kitagawa had been like a father to him, while denouncing his acts as “the most pathetic in the history of humankind.”
Kauan Okamoto,musician and former Japanese pop group member, alleges talent manager assaulted him
When he found out what Kitagawa had done, he felt as though he had lost everything, Higashiyama recalled.
“Whether I am qualified to take on this job, you be the judge,” he said.
Separately, Guiness World Records said it had stripped Kitagawa of all the records he had held, such as No. 1 hits, according to its policy toward “criminals.”
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- Advocacy group says a migrant has died on US border after medical issue in outdoor waiting area
- Palestinians flee within Gaza after Israel orders mass evacuation and stages brief ground incursions
- Things to know about Poland’s parliamentary election and what’s at stake
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Taking the temperature of the US consumer
- A teen’s death in a small Michigan town led the FBI and police to an online sexual extortion scheme
- Proof Hugh Jackman and Estranged Wife Deborra-Lee Furness Are on Good Terms
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Weary families trudge through Gaza streets, trying to flee the north before Israel’s invasion
Ranking
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- At least 27 dead with dozens more missing after boat capsizes in northwest Congo
- Schools near a Maui wildfire burn zone are reopening. Parents wrestle with whether to send kids back
- Ex-Connecticut police officer suspected of burglaries in 3 states
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- 'Curlfriends: New In Town' reminds us that there can be positives of middle school
- GOP quickly eyes Trump-backed hardliner Jim Jordan as House speaker but not all Republicans back him
- Golden Bachelor's Joan Vassos Shares Family Update After Shocking Exit
Recommendation
Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
Palestinians are 'stateless' but united by longing for liberation, say historians
Australians cast final votes in a referendum on whether to create an Indigenous Voice
Q&A: SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher reacts to Hollywood studios breaking off negotiations
Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
Piper Laurie, 3-time Oscar nominee with film credits such as “The Hustler” and “Carrie,” dies at 91
Iowa jurors clear man charged with murder in shooting deaths of 2 students
Piper Laurie, 3-time Oscar nominee with film credits such as “The Hustler” and “Carrie,” dies at 91