When the leaders of a major Japanese broadcaster stepped down to take responsibility for the botched handling of a sexual assault allegation, it was supposed to be a ritual show of remorse in corporate Japan. Instead, the news conference to announce the resignations turned into a marathon display of social outrage as executives faced a public grilling that lasted 10 hours.

The president and chairman of Fuji Television resigned on Monday night after acknowledging they mishandled an incident in which a star TV host admitted paying hush money to an unnamed woman for an incident that took place in June 2023. The case has plunged the broadcaster into financial crisis as major corporations pulled ads to protest Fuji TV’s failure to take action, despite learning of the incident right after it happened.

The ad boycott has turned into a watershed moment, directing public anger against not only the TV star, Masahiro Nakai, a former member of a celebrated boy idol band who later became a popular show host, but also his employer. Fuji TV has faced allegations that staff helped arrange the original encounter with the woman and that management looked the other way as Mr. Nakai tried to cover it up.

In corporate Japan, it is accepted practice for top executives to respond to damaging scandals with resignations, usually delivered with deep bows of contrition before banks of flashing cameras. But in this case, they failed to appease a sense of outrage that was shared by many at the news conference, which drew some 400 journalists and others to Fuji TV’s futuristic silver headquarters building on Tokyo Bay.

“Fuji thought the president and chairman’s stepping down would be enough, but their logic was wrong,” said Takahiko Kageyama, a media professor at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts who researches the entertainment industry. “Instead, it gave an impression that the executives were trying to hide something.”