Photo/Illutration Masahiro Nakai (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Major TV networks are scrambling to deal with programs emceed by former SMAP member Masahiro Nakai, who is caught up in an alleged sex scandal.

Nakai, 52, once belonged to the hugely popular male idol group before it disbanded in 2016. He now emcees five programs on four networks.

Nippon Television Network Corp. cut all scenes including Nakai from a program of close to four hours that aired on Jan. 7 featuring TV clips from around the world.

The weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun and other publications have run articles from late last year alleging Nakai’s sexual misconduct involving a woman.

Nippon Television officials said they notified Nakai that his scenes would be cut from the show. The network officials said Nakai asked that his scenes be cut.

The Shukan Bunshun articles alleged that a dinner was arranged between Nakai, the woman and an employee of Fuji Television Network Inc.

The article said that at the last minute only Nakai and the woman appeared at the gathering and that was where the problems arose. Another article reported that Nakai and the woman agreed to resolve the problem by having Nakai pay her money.

A request was made in writing to Nakai’s personal management agency regarding the veracity of the articles.

An attorney for Nakai released a statement on Dec. 27 that said the matter had been resolved and that because the two sides had signed a non-disclosure agreement, no specific comments could be made about the articles.

The statement also said that Nakai never was violent toward the woman.

The agency does not plan to have Nakai hold a news conference.

On its official website, Fuji Television denied that the employee in question was involved in any way and that the employee was not aware that such a gathering had been planned so a sudden cancellation was impossible.

Nippon Television said it would respond appropriately to future programs emceed by Nakai.

Fuji Television officials said on Jan. 8 that a program scheduled for Jan. 12 emceed by Nakai would be replaced with another show and that all future programs would be canceled for the time being. 

The officials cited the scandal as one factor behind the decision. 

Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc. (TBS) has two programs emceed by Nakai, while TV Asahi Corp. has one.

Both networks said they could not respond to questions about future programming. But sources with the two networks said other programs would be aired in place of the three to be broadcast in the near future.

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