Photo/Illutration A staff member of a public relations company carries an apparent blacklist of journalists before Johnny & Associates Inc.’s news conference in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on Oct. 2. (Wataru Sekita)

The public relations company that handled Johnny & Associates Inc.’s news conference on Oct. 2 made a “blacklist” of journalists who were not allowed to ask questions, the talent agency told The Asahi Shimbun.

The agency said it had nothing to do with the list, insisting it would “never make such a rude request like not wanting to call on specific individuals to raise questions.”

Johnny & Associates held the news conference in Tokyo from 2 p.m. on Oct. 2 to announce a “fresh start.” It said it will change its name to Smile-Up and focus on compensating hundreds of victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by the agency’s founder, Johnny Kitagawa.

The agency said the PR company presented the blacklist at a meeting two days before the news conference. The PR company specified that the session would last around two hours, and it apparently wanted agency executives to sidestep questions from specific journalists.

According to the agency, Yoshihiko Inohara, president of subsidiary Johnnys’ Island, raised concerns about the blacklist during the meeting.

“What does this mean?” he asked, according to the agency. “We definitely must let (all journalists) ask questions.”

An official of the PR company responded, “We’ll call on (those on the blacklist) in the latter half, not the first half,” according to the agency.

Around 300 reporters and freelance journalists attended the news conference, which featured four agency officials: Noriyuki Higashiyama, president of Johnny & Associates, Inohara and two lawyers.

Higashiyama and the others explained the agency’s name change and its new direction for around 30 minutes before moving on to a question-and-answer session.

The facilitator who presided over the news conference said “one question per company,” and he then called on journalists who raised their hands.

At one point, the session grew chaotic when the facilitator interrupted journalists who repeatedly asked questions while others asked questions without being called.

The facilitator again said, “I’m begging you, one question per company, please.”

Some journalists protested because they were not called upon despite having raised their hands.

Inohara tried to settle things down.

“This news conference is being broadcast live across Japan,” he said. “I don’t want the victims (of sexual abuse) to see this chaos and feel that this is happening because of them.”

He continued: “I want to show through this session that we are all capable of following rules as mature adults. Please calm down.”

Related News