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NGT48 Idol Minami Katō Demoted After 'Inappropriate' Instagram Post About Maho Yamaguchi
posted on by Kim Morrissy
NGT48 idol Minami Katō made a formal apology on Tuesday for an "inappropriate" Instagram post she made earlier that day about former group member Maho Yamaguchi who graduated on May 18. The NGT48 website also announced that Katō's position has been demoted from captain to trainee.
The Instagram post in question has been deleted, but the screencap below has been circulating the Internet since Tuesday:
The image shows a television screen with footage from Yamaguchi's graduation, and is captioned: "I'm doing my nails over here. I wish someone would change the channel."
Katō confirmed in her apology that this post was hers. "Seeing the news in the nail salon made me upset. I intended to post it privately to my friends, but I accidentally made it public for everyone. Regardless of the fact that I only meant to show it to close friends, my post was insensitive about people's feelings."
According to the NGT48 website's announcement, every group member has been temporarily suspended from social media activity since Tuesday 11:00pm JST.
NGT48 is a sister group of the AKB48 idol group based in Niigata prefecture, and it launched in 2015. NGT48 members Maho Yamaguchi, Riko Sugahara, and Rena Hasegawa graduated from the group on May 18, months after Yamaguchi commented in January on her alleged assault in December.
Image via Arama! Japan
Source: Oricon
