Watanabe Ent. apologizes for A Masso’s racist joke about Tennis champ Osaka Naomi

Comedy duo A Masso (Murakami Ai and Kanou Aiko) are in hot water for racists joke about tennis champ Osaka Naomi.

According to those who attended the free  “Omoide Yaro A Team presents Ura Tora Soul Picnic” event held on September 22nd at Futakotamagawa in Setagaya, Tokyo, the two were discussing about pharmacies and the question of “what are things Osaka Naomi needed to do”?

Murakami Ai asked the question, while Kanou Aiko said, “Bleach.  Because she is a person that has too much of a tan”.

Watanabe Entertainment posted an apology on the official website on September 24th:

“In regards to where a specific person’s name was given and a statement that did not consider the diversity, everyone from the Memories A Team, customers who watched the live event, we would like to apologize to all of those who felt uncomfortable about this matter and to all of those who were concerned and felt a great deal of inconvenience”.

In addition, the company will take efforts to making sure this doesn’t happen again by improving awareness of diversity among their talent and all employees.

The company also brought in legal counsel as advice from their lawyer who specializes in racism and gave a lecture to ensure diversity.

弊社所属お笑いコンビAマッソのライブ中の発言につきまして https://t.co/VnJN29QY3o

— 【公式】Aマッソマネージャー（本物） (@amasso_official) September 24, 2019

Kano Ai wrote, “I regret that it was the lowest thing to say.  It was wrong to laugh about it.  I apologize as a human being who performs for the public”.

Murakami Ai said, “I misunderstood and I should have understood what was going on but what was said, it hurt a lot of people.  I never thought that we could say something that would hurt people, but we did”.

The music group Omoide Yaro A Team also apologized on their official website, “We are very sorry that we are unable to react immediately, that we couldn’t fix the problem or apologize.  We should have said something right away.  There is no excuse.  We would like to continue not only through apologies but how to confront hate in this society in a true sense while standing on stage”.

主催イベントにおいて発生した差別的発言につきましてhttps://t.co/lzter2l3A6

— 思い出野郎Aチーム (@O__Y__A__T) September 24, 2019

Earlier this January, Nissin pulled a commercial ad which featured Osaka Naomi with a lighter skin tone which received criticism globally.

While Osaka’s name was not mentioned in the apologies, the question is if there will be a public apology to Osaka Naomi? We can only hope so.

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