Tokyo Games Opening Ceremony Director Dismissed for Holocaust Joking Three Decades Ago

The organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday announced the dismissal of the director of the opening ceremony, Kentaro Kobayashi, for a series of jokes about the Holocaust in the 1990s, a decision that comes on the eve of the events.

Kobayashi himself has apologized in a statement for his comments, made during a comedy show, and has acknowledged that it was "extremely reckless."

“I understand that I chose the wrong words at that time and it is a mistake that I regret.

I apologize to all those offended, "he said.

Kobayashi, comedian, actor and theater director, thus becomes the second person in charge of the opening ceremony that leaves the team, after Keigo Oyamada, one of those in charge of it, resigned a few days ago after admitting that he had participated in the past in acts of harassment and abuse against children with disabilities.

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Seiko Hashimoto, president of the committee, stressed at a press conference that it is her "responsibility" that the organization did not carry out the necessary checks on Kobayashi's past and has apologized for the scandal, as reported by the Japanese news agency Kiodo. "We are reviewing everything and quickly how to celebrate it," he said, referring to the ceremony. “We would like to reach a conclusion as soon as possible. The opening ceremony is tomorrow, so we will prepare for it to find out how to do it ”, he has settled.

Kobayashi's dismissal came after a video came to light in which he appears in a humorous show in which he jokes about the Holocaust, which was criticized by different sectors of the Jewish community, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, based in Los Angeles.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, dean of this center, stressed that "no person, regardless of how creative they may be, has the right to make fun of the victims of the Nazi genocide," while adding that Kobayashi's role with the Olympic Games would be a insult to the memory of the victims.

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