TOKYO (TR) – Of the more than 1,000 people who have filed claims of sexual abuse from Johnny Kitagawa, the former head of the talent agency once known as Johnny and Associates, around half have been compensated, the company now running the agency said.
On October 15, SMILE-UP updated the “Special Site for Compensation” on their official website to reveal that 530 people have come to an agreement regarding compensation. Of them, 503 persons have been paid.
For decades, Kitagawa trained young boys to become stars within his agency Johnny and Associates. Last year, the BBC documentary “Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop” shed light on sexual abuse carried out by Kitagawa. As a result, the company changed its name to SMILE-UP and set up a consultation desk for the victims.
For over 50 years, Japan’s media failed to report on the sexual abuse carried out by Kitagawa despite victims having come forward. This failure continued even after Kitagawa died in 2019.
The BBC documentary said that the reason for the lapse was Kitagawa’s immense power he wielded over the media, whose outlets used his stars in their programming.
According to SMILE-UP, 237 persons who filed claims have dropped out of contact. The company notified another 213 people that they will not be provided compensation.
“The 213 people who were notified that compensation would not be provided are people who, as a result of verifying the documents submitted and interviews by our company’s representative, were unable to be confirmed as either employed at our company or as a victim,” SMILE-UP said.
“Since the Victim Relief Committee began accepting compensation applications, we have received compensation applications from a total of 1,000 people as of today. Of these, 237 people have not responded despite multiple attempts to contact them.”
SMILE-UP is continuing to accept applications from persons seeking compensation. “We will continue to be sympathetic to the feelings of those who have been victimized and will do our utmost to provide prompt and appropriate compensation,” the company said.
