Masahiro Nakai, like, oh my gosh, he’s basically a total legend in Japanese entertainment. Born on August 18, 1972, in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, he became, like, super famous as the leader of SMAP, which was the boy band of the century in Japan. I mean, they were huge—like, Asia’s best-selling-group-ever huge. But Nakai wasn’t just a pop star, oh no. He totally owned the TV world too, hosting, like, so many talk shows, variety programs, and even covering the freakin’ Olympics as a sportscaster. He was literally everywhere. Then, in 2016, SMAP disbanded, and it was such a moment—like, Japan was in mourning. But Nakai? He just kept going, reinventing himself as this, like, unstoppable TV personality. His charm? Unmatched. His presence? Iconic. He was basically a national treasure.
But, uh, then, like, dramaaa. In late 2024, Nakai’s sparkly career hit a major, like, major scandal. So, reports started swirling that he was involved in some, like, super sketchy situation at a private dinner in June 2023. Apparently, there was a sexual misconduct allegation, and it was, like, a huge deal. The word on the street was that he, like, assaulted a woman, and things got so messy that there was, like, a settlement for ¥90 million (which, like, in British pounds, is around £466,000—insane, right?). Nakai, for his part, was, like, “Uhhh, I totally didn’t do anything violent,” but, like, the damage was done. The media went absolutely wild, and people were not having it. Companies freaked out—like, Toyota and McDonald’s straight-up yanked their ads from Fuji TV, which was basically Nakai’s home turf. Then Fuji TV was, like, “Oh nooo,” and immediately put Nakai’s show on ice and said they were investigating. But people were, like, “Yeah, sure, now you care about accountability?” The backlash was so intense. Sponsors were bailing, and everyone was side-eyeing the network. So, on January 23, 2025, Nakai was, like, “Okay, okay, I’m out,” and announced his total retirement from showbiz. In his statement, he was, like, super apologetic, saying he didn’t wanna, like, bring any more trouble and was just gonna peace out from the spotlight.
And, like, just when you thought it was over—nope! More fallout. So, on January 27, 2025, Fuji TV went full meltdown mode. They straight-up lost their president, Koichi Minato, and their chairman, Shuji Kanoh, from Fuji Media Holdings Inc. Like, both of them were, like, “We’re out,” after getting absolutely slammed for, like, how badly they handled the Nakai situation. People were, like, “Uh, where was the corporate governance, babes?” So Fuji had to do some serious damage control and put Kenji Shimizu in charge as the new president. Meanwhile, literally over 50 major companies were, like, “Yeah, we’re done,” and pulled their ads from Fuji TV shows connected to Nakai. We’re talking huge brands—Toyota, Nissan, Seven & I Holdings, Shiseido, Meiji Yasuda Life—you name it. It was, like, a total financial disaster. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, on January 28, 2025, the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun had to issue this, like, mega-awkward correction. So, back in December 2024, they ran this whole thing about the scandal, but turns out, oopsie, they, like, got some major details wrong—like, they kinda misreported whether a Fuji TV exec was involved in setting up that dinner where the alleged incident happened. So, yeah, they had to eat their words and be, like, “Sorry, our bad.”
At the end of the day, this whole mess wasn’t just about Nakai—it turned into, like, this massive wake-up call for the Japanese entertainment world. Suddenly, everyone was talking about corporate governance, media responsibility, and, like, how these networks and companies actually handle scandals. It’s giving total reckoning vibes. And, honestly? It’s kinda wild to see one celebrity scandal turn into this whole industry-wide crisis.
XOXO,
Valley Girl News
Image from Kyodo News.
