TV personality Masahiro Nakai announced on Thursday that he would retire from the entertainment industry amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

In a statement released on his website, the 52-year-old former member of the now-defunct boy band SMAP said terminations and cancellations of contracts involving his TV and radio programs have all been completed, and negotiations with his sponsors are in progress.

“I do not believe that I have fulfilled all of my responsibilities with this,” he said in the statement. “I will continue to deal with the various issues with utmost sincerity. I personally take all of the responsibility. I am incredibly sorry for having caused all the trouble and damage for many.”

Following the announcement, three of his former band mates, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori released a joint statement, several media reported, saying, “We can’t organize our thoughts since it all happened so suddenly. We have no words.”

Nakai has been embroiled in a sexual misconduct scandal since last month, when it was reported by the weekly magazine Josei Seven and later by Shukan Bunshun that he had paid a woman a lump sum of ¥90 million ($570,000) for what has been described as "sexual trouble."

Although details of the incident are not clear, the weekly magazines' reports allege that in 2023, Nakai had attended a dinner arranged with an executive of major broadcaster Fuji TV and a woman, but that the executive backed out at the last minute so that the woman was left alone with Nakai.

During the encounter, which is described as having been in a closed-door setting, there was a "sexual act against (the woman’s) will,” according to reports by Shukan Bunshun, which resulted in the payment from Nakai.

On Jan. 9, in a statement on his fan site, Nakai confirmed that “it is true that there was trouble,” but that “settlements have been reached and resolved through the representation of both parties.”

Since the scandal came to light, TV programs where he served as a regular cast member have been either canceled or have dropped Nakai in turn, with corporate sponsors — such as major mobile company SoftBank — removing advertisements featuring the celebrity from the air.

Since then, the fire has spread, with criticism targeted at Fuji TV over its poor handling of the allegations and for its poor corporate governance. U.S.-based Dalton Investments — a major investor in Fuji Media Holdings, which owns Fuji TV — sent a letter to the network last week, criticizing its response and demanding it set up a third-party committee to investigate the matter.

Although such measures were announced in a poorly received news conference by Fuji TV President Koichi Minato last Friday, the hastiness of the news conference, constraints on who could participate, and the potentially biased nature of the probe have fueled further criticism toward the broadcaster, so much so that over 75 companies have pulled their advertisements from the channel since then.

Given the criticism over the handling of the scandal, Fuji TV also announced on Thursday that it will set up a third-party committee in accordance with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations' guidelines and will hold a news conference open to all media on Monday. The bar group's guidelines call for evidence-based, objective fact-finding by a committee comprised only of members with no interests in the firm being probed.

Ryunosuke Endo, the deputy chairman of Fuji TV and head of the Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association, told reporters on Thursday that this series of troubles was rooted in systematic issues at the company and that the “company culture has to be improved.”

"As for (Nakai’s) decision to retire, it is his own decision, so I have nothing to say, but I believe that he is one of the people who will be questioned by the investigation committee in the upcoming days," he said. "I hope he will respond sincerely to these requests."

The company held a board of directors meeting in the afternoon and was scheduled to hold a meeting with its employees to explain its stance later on Thursday.

Nakai’s case comes after a sexual abuse scandal in 2023 that rocked the Japanese entertainment industry, in which music mogul Johnny Kitagawa — founder of the now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates, to which SMAP belonged — was found to have sexually abused young boys over several decades.

Last year, nationally renowned comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto was implicated in a sexual assault scandal in which he was accused of forcing sexual acts on two women in a luxury hotel room.

Nakai ended his statement on Thursday by addressing his fans.

“I wanted to meet you, even just once — I couldn’t meet you, I needed to meet you,” it read. “I am very, very sorry that this is how it has to end. Goodbye...”