The agency, whose founder has been accused of sexually abusing hundreds of boys and young men, said that 325 people have sought damages
President of Johnny & Associates, Noriyuki Higashiyama , at a press conference in Tokyo on Oct. 2, 2023, to announce new company name"SMILE-UP."Johnny & Associates announced Monday that it will split into two entities: One named Smile-Up that will be focused on compensatingThe agency will operate under a new name, which as yet to be decided, as it moves to disassociate itself from its disgraced founder.
“We will disband Johnny & Associates and face the victims in a sincere manner,” said the agency’s president, Noriyuki Higashiyama. “The new company will create a new future with its fans.” Higashiyama replaced Kitagawa’s niece, Julie Keiko Fujishima — Kitagawa’s niece — after calls for her resignation in August.
The recent investigations into Kitagawa led to the discovery of press mentions of his sexual abuse as far back as the 1960s . But it wasn’t until decades later that more prominent, and public, allegations emerged. Despite accusations of rape and abuse by former Johnny & Associates performers, and a major series of allegations published in 1999 by the magazine with accusations of his own — that enough pressure had mounted on Kitagawa & Associates to address the decades of alleged abuse.
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