NEWS members Koyama Keiichiro suspended for encouraging underage girl to drink liquor, Kato Shigeaki reprimanded

Just when you thought Johnny’s Jr. would be clamping things down when it comes to members discipline after the Yamaguchi Tatsuya of TOKIO scandal.  Johnny’s finds itself in another predicament regarding NEWS members Koyama Keiichiro (34) and Kato Shigeaki (30).

Tabloid “Shukan Bunshun” featured a story on their June 7th edition that Koyama organized a part and a 19-year-old girl was urged to drink a lot of alcohol.

Johnny’s released a statement saying they take the incident seriously and they decided to suspend Koyama from any entertainment activities, while Kato, who was present at the part but did not organize it has been officially reprimanded.

Koyama was a host of the NTV “News Every” daily news program.

Koyama apologized to viewers on the June 6th broadcast of the news program and he said he was told explicitly that the girl in question was 20-years-old at the time of the party (in Japan, the legal age to drink alcohol is 20-years-old).

Koyama said, “I was partying with a girl who happened to be a minor and I encouraged her to drink. In my position, as my job as a newscaster, who reports various news and have criticized people for their actions on television, I am aware my actions were inappropriate and I am deeply sorry”.

Koyama said that regardless of what happened, he deeply regrets allowing the incident to take place and that he will not take part in the news program for a certain time as he will be reflecting on the incident and his actions.

UPDATE: NEWS member Kato Shigeaki made an apology on live TV on June 8th.

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