Johnny & Associates renames itself to Smile-Up due to J-pop scandal
Asia Business Daily - October 4, 2023
Today’s read - Johnny & Associates renames itself to Smile-Up due to J-pop scandal
The J-pop scandal of Johnny & Associates arrived to Western media earlier this year when BBC released a documentary named ‘Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop.’ The film revolved around the late founder of the company, Johnny Kitagawa. Allegations against Kitagawa actually first surfaced in a magazine called Shūkan Bunshun in 1999 but was never charged with a crime.
One month after the documentary was aired, singer Kauan Okamoto, who joined the agency when he was 15, went public with allegations of sexual abuse from Kitagawa. Last month, the company acknowledged the abuse and apologized to victims, and Kitagawa’s niece Fujishima stepped down as president. SInce then, the company has lost major sponsors such as Asahi Group Holdings and Nissan.
On Monday, Johnny & Associates announced that they will change the company’s name to Smile-Up and create a new talent agency to manage upcoming artists. Smile-Up will be focused on identifying and compensating victims (as of Saturday there were over 300 people who requested compensation), and will be disbanded once the work is complete. The name of the new talent agency is yet to be decided, but the company is open to ideas from its fanbase.
What’s new in Asia’s economy? Vietnam’s GDP grew 5.33% in the third quarter, driven by improved exports in September. Indonesia’s inflation rate was 2.28% for the month of September, the lowest since February 2022, due to a slowdown in housing and transport prices. Over in South Korea, the fall in exports greatly improved in September, only declining 4.4% YoY compared to a 8.3% loss in August.
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