TBS mistakes porn star's name for volleyball player
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/shukan/370
As Japan’s team perfomed better at the women’s volleyball world championships last week, TV ratings went up. “We are getting back viewers whom we lost after the Kameda boxing fiasco,” said a TBS spokesperson. But a little mishap took place when things were just starting to look good for the station.
In order to boost the championship's ratings, TBS uploads comments from the players on the same day that a match is played. The fans liked what they saw, up until Nov 1, when a comment from an unexpected individual was put up after the Japan-Costa Rica match. The comment follows.
“I was told that I had a stone-like expression the day before, but I was able to perform in a relaxed manner today, just like at practice,” said Miyuki Horai.
Horai, the person in question, is a famous porn star. And indeed, if you re-read the comment above, it sounds like the sort of risque comment someone in her profession might make.
“Miyuki Horai retired from the porn industry in 2004, but still has a strong following,” said a porn writer. “Not only did she appear in an orthodox porn movie, she appeared in more demanding sex flicks that involved anal sex, SM and etc. She looked like Ayumi Hamasaki, so she dressed up as her in one of her movies.”
Of course, the name that appeared on the TBS website was a mistake. It should have read Makiko Horai instead, who is on the roster of the current Japan women’s volleyball team.
This was an unfortunate event for Katsuaki Iwamoto, a journalist who was listed as the interviewer on the website. Fans immediately attacked him by leaving comments on his blog. Comments such as “You pervert!” or “Do you watch volleyball in the same way you watch porn?” were left on his website. But the truth was that he wasn’t the one who typed the manuscript onto the website, but some other staffer at TBS.
“If you typed the name ‘Horai’ and unconsciously followed it with ‘Miyuki,’ it just shows how much the person that wrote it, owes to the actress,” a TBS insider said. “Not only did it distract Horai and the team, but we are embarrassed to learn that one of our staff was thinking about porn while at work. The question of who wrote it is a hot topic around here.”
The mistake was corrected as soon as a fan pointed it out. “The mishap did take place. We find it highly regrettable and have apologized to Horai and the team,” said the TBS spokesperson.
“TBS failed pretty badly with Kameda and they wanted to broadcast the volleyball to regain their momentum,” a worker at a rival TV station said. “But due to the lack of experience handling volleyball coverage, they barely kept themselves afloat. The announcers often times mispronounced players' names or got them wrong during the matches. You cannot really blame just the IT staff for the poor performance.” (Translated by Toshiya Fujii)
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