AKS Co., Ltd., which manages AKB48 has terminated the contract of Imamura Etsurou, the former manager of NGT48 Theater.
Announced on the AKB48 blog, it was also announced that Hosoi Takahiro, manager of the AKB48 theater will be retiring and the seat will be vacant.
Back in January, after the assault of NGT48 member Yamaguchi Maho was made public, an online petition calling for the resignation of NGT48 Theatre Manager Imamura Etsurou reached over 53,000 signatures. AKS Co., Ltd., had replaced Imamura and transferred him to a new duty.
A third-party commission would investigate the case and it was found that Imamura took inappropriate action on a case relating to NGT48.
UPDATE: There is uproar from a photo tweeted with former AKB48 manager Togasaki Tomonobu, Hosoi Takahiro and Imamura Etsurou of the three together to drink. This led many people to be angry that how dare the three post a photo on social media when Imamura himself has not apologized for his actions towards Yamaguchi Maho:
戸賀崎さん(元AKB支配人)無神経にも程があるわ…山口真帆ちゃんの事件からもう三ヶ月経つよ。酔ってるのか知らないけど 説明や謝罪もなく逃げ回ってるNGT元支配人との写真を添えてこのツイート。何が「きっと」だよ馬鹿じゃねえの?必ずだろ、遅すぎる pic.twitter.com/PVucrqN3Oh
— As (@ee1ps) March 6, 2019
As for Togasaki Tomonobu, while he is no longer affiliated with AKB48G (as of August 2018), many fans were critical of him posting the photo on Twitter. Togasaki tweeted an apology:
昨日の投稿、沢山の人にご迷惑をおかけして申し訳ありませんでした。状況も考えず軽はずみな投稿したこと、取り返しのつかないことをしたと反省しています。被害者の方もいる今回の事件について、軽く考えているわけではないことは伝えておきたいです。辞めて尚迷惑をかけてしまい恥ずかしいです。
— とがちゃん (@tgsk1115) March 7, 2019
Togasaki apologized for his post and for inconveniencing a lot of people. He said he will be reflecting on the lightning post without considering the situation and doing something that was irreparable.
While some were able to take the apology, others not so much, considering there were other tweets that happened after the first tweet went out. Needless to say, a large percentage of people were upset with Togasaki’s tweets.