Major TV networks have distanced themselves from one of Japan's biggest 1990s boy band stars after media reports said he paid a woman a large settlement related to alleged sexual misconduct.
The reports, which emerged last month, said that Masahiro Nakai, a 52-year-old former member of the hugely popular group SMAP, had paid a woman a lump sum of ¥90 million ($570,000).
That was to settle what most Japanese media outlets have cautiously described as "sexual trouble" concerning an encounter that took place in 2023.
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