On the evening of the 22nd, a post appeared on the social media platform X (Twitter), hinting that Gen Hoshino was having an affair and that his marriage with Yui Aragaki was facing problems, sparking the attention of netizens around the world. In the early hours of the 23rd, Gen Hoshino’s talent agency, Amuse, denied the news and stated that they did not rule out taking legal action.
The post claimed, “A male singer who co-starred with a super famous actress in a TV drama and quickly married her, had an extramarital affair with a married female anchor from a certain NHK television program they both appeared on. A certain magazine had planned to report this news on New Year’s Day this year but the male singer’s talent agency paid 1 billion yen to stop the report (the actress and the singer are actually in a state of divorce, but they have not divorced considering the impact on their work).”
The article also mentioned at the end, “The NHK anchor had just gotten married and moved into a new home, starting a happy life, but was expelled from the new residence after the affair was discovered and is now living in various internet cafes.”
These contents led many to associate them with the Japanese celebrity couple Gen Hoshino and Yui Aragaki. The post came from an X account specializing in sharing news and gossip with over 2.7 million followers.
Within half a day of being posted, the short article had already been viewed by over 100 million people, with over 20,000 shares, and Gen Hoshino’s name also trended on X’s keyword trends list as a result.
Yui Aragaki and singer-actor Gen Hoshino had portrayed a married couple in the popular Japanese drama “Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu” aired in 2016, and surprisingly announced their marriage in 2021, leading many to believe that the article from the X account was referring to them, and the news spread rapidly due to the ripple effects of shares.
In response to this, Gen Hoshino’s talent agency, Amuse, released a statement around 3:30 a.m. on the 23rd, saying, “We have received numerous inquiries asking whether the content mentioned in the tweet is about our artist Gen Hoshino. However, the fact is that it is not. Our company also did not attempt to stop any reporting.”
Amuse further stated: “Directly naming or indirectly implying false content about our artists through insinuations, even without explicitly naming them, constitutes illegal acts damaging reputation. Additionally, we will retain evidence at any time for illegal posting, comments, DMs, and defamation against our artists on SNS. We will consider appropriate measures, including legal actions, for illegal acts such as defamation. Please be cautious and attentive to speculative and false posts.”