TOKYO -- Japanese comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto is set to drop a defamation suit against a publisher over a sex scandal report in a weekly magazine, sources close to the matter have revealed to the Mainichi Shimbun.

Matsumoto, a member of comedian duo Downtown, filed a 550 million yen (approx. $3.60 million) suit seeking damages for defamation from Bungeishunju Ltd. over a report in its weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun on his alleged sexual acts with women. Matsumoto also demanded the company publish an apology.

From December 2023 onward, Shukan Bunshun had reported on accusations by two women who said they had had drinking and dining sessions at a hotel with Matsumoto and others in 2015. In the article, the women were quoted as claiming that they engaged in nonconsensual sexual acts with Matsumoto.

In January 2024, Matsumoto filed a suit with the Tokyo District Court, arguing that there were no sexual acts as described in the article, nor any coercion to perform such acts. He accordingly claimed there was nothing that would constitute sexual assault. The suit also asserted that the article was based on extremely sloppy news-gathering activities, covering only one-sided comments by the women without objective evidence.

During the first oral proceedings of the trial in March this year, the publisher demanded that the court dismiss the suit, saying, "We had a number of interviews with the two women and carefully examined the concreteness of their testimonies and evidence to support them. The article reported the truth."

(Japanese original by Ran Kanno, Tokyo City News Department)