Earlier today, Johnny & Associates held a follow up press conference to their September 7 one, where the company accepted the abuse allegations against founder Johnny Kitagawa, and where Julie Fujishima resigned as company president. Today’s press conference documented the company’s plan forward, including the introduction of Chief Compliance Officer Yamada Masayuki and the company’s name change.
Since the September press conference, Japan’s television networks have continued to have talent from the company on air, but have said that this could change given what the company did going forward. After today’s press conference, the big six TV networks released statements clarifying their positions in light of it.
NHK
Taking into consideration the policies announced at today’s press conference, we will continue to communicate with the agency to confirm whether efforts are steadily being made to compensate victims and prevent recurrence.
Nippon TV
Today, Johnny & Associates held a press conference to explain the new company structure, and to announce future relief measures and other initiatives. Nippon Television had requested the contents that were made public.
- Company name change
- Separation of compensation and management companies
- Implementation of an effective relief system and appropriate compensation based on direct and sufficient dialogue with victims
- Implementation and publication of recurrence prevention measures
Given the information provide, we believe that a certain amount of progress has beeen made. Nippon Television will continue to have appropriate dialogue with Johnny & Associates to ensure that these initiatives are implemented promptly and reliably, while closing monitoring the progress. In addition, in regards to new appointments of talent from the company, we will determine whether the measures announced today are being implemented reliably, and then make appropriate decisions.
TV Asahi
Johnny & Associates held a press conference regarding the future direction of the company and measures to prevent recurrence. The company has changed its name to “SMILE-UP.” and is devoting itself to compensation and relief work for victims. As soon as the compensation is complete, the company will shut down, with a new company being established. It has also been announced that Julie Fujishima will not serve as a director of the new company and will not hold any shares. TV Asahi requests that SMILE-UP. promptly and sincerely provide compensation and relief to the victims. The new company will be centered on agent contracts. In particular, we would like to see that the best possible care is provided for the company’s young talent in the process of their development, and at the same time, we would like the company to make every effort to ensure that problems related to human rights violations do not reoccur. In addition, regarding the appointment of talent belonging to the new company, there is no change in our policy of making comprehensive decisions based on the content of the project, etc.
TBS
Today, Johnny & Associates held a press conference and announced the review of the organization to break away from Johnny Kitagawa, the formulation of a human rights policy, and the progress of victim relief efforts. This shows that Johnny’s has begun concrete efforts to provide relief and compensation to victims and to prevent human rights violations, and we believe that this is the beginning of reform. Based on our request to the company on September 13, through regular dialogue, we urged the company to take more concrete measures to provide relief to victims and build an organizational structure to ensure that human rights violations never occur again.
- Promptly decide and publicize specific policies and measures regarding relief and compensation for the victims of this incident, measures to prevent human rights violations, etc.
- Promptly implement the measures and measures mentioned in the first point
- Regularly report to TBS regarding the implementation and progress of the measures mentioned in the first two points
- Immediately formulate company human rights action guidelines that fall under the “Human Rights Policy” and publicly declare and publicize them
TV Tokyo
Johnny & Associates held a press conference today, and once again announced plans to strengthen management governance, preventive measures, and compensation for victims regarding the issue of former president Johnny Kitagawa’s sexual assault of company talent.
The content of the company’s announcement is in line with TV Tokyo’s request for stronger management governance and early implementation of victim relief, and we believe that a certain amount of progress has been made toward a dismantling the company and starting again. However, there are many unclear things regarding the content of this announcement, so we would like to confirm the facts with the company, and then decide on our company’s future policy.
Fuji TV
Johnny & Associates held a press conference and announced future company management policies, including changing the company name, as well as compensation and relief for victims. Our company requests that the recently announced policy be implemented promptly. However, there are still some details that are unclear, and we will continue to monitor the company’s response. Regarding casting of Johnny’s talent, we will make appropriate decisions while confirming that measures are being taken steadily for victims. Once again, we regret that our awareness of this issue was insufficent, and as a company as well as news organization, we are determined to fulfill our responsibility to respect all human rights, including in our response to the Johnny & Associates incident.
