Trivia / NGT48

• Hostility on the Set: In January 2019, Yamaguchi Maho revealed that she was attacked in front of her apartment by two men whom she claimed were the boyfriends of other members, but the management attempted to protect the other members and cover it up. This brought to light various earlier incidents of bullying and favoritism within the group, and resulted in several sponsors, including the Niigata government itself, to distance themselves from the group. Despite that and continuous media coverage and public pressure from both within Japan and overseas, the management kept doing everything it could to avoid taking responsibility and sweep the problem under the rug, and on April 21, Mahohon and two of her close friends, Sugahara Riko (Rittan) and Hasegawa Rena (Renapon), announced their graduation.
  • Kashiwagi Yuki, a popular senior AKB48 member who was concurrently a member of this group, also ended her concurrent position on that day after announcing it four days prior.
  • The utter lack of transparency inevitably lead to groups of fans conducting their own Witch Hunt to determine which members are involved, by scouring their social media to find implicating words or gestures. It didn't help that many of the suspected members show Lack of Empathy towards Mahohon. Notably, Ogino Yuka, probably the most popular member of the group before the incident, was dropped as brand ambassador of the Heather clothing brand due to social media pressure.
  • The incident also resulted in the Senbatsu Elections, the 48 Group's flagship event, to not be held from 2019 onwards. Their management company, AKS, also rebranded into Vernalossom and sold all the Japan-based groups to various entertainment corporations, and now only manages the 48 groups outside Japan.