Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Even before Tokyo Olympics could actually begin yet another controversy surrounded the event, as its creative director, was removed, with just a day left for the opening ceremony. He was also the director for the closing ceremony and has lost that position too.
A footage of Kentaro Kobayashi from the 1990s recently emerged in which he seems to be making jokes about the Holocaust. Japan’s Olympic chief Seiko Hashimoto called out the video saying it ridiculed painful facts of history. Kobayashi later apologized after his dismissal.
It comes days after a composer quit the team creating the ceremony after it emerged he had bullied classmates with disabilities at school. Organizers are also dealing with rising Covid case numbers among athletes and officials. According to the organizers of the games till Thursday, 91 people accredited for games have now tested positive for the virus.
After the removal of Kobayashi, organizers are now re-assessing how to hold the event on Friday. “With the opening ceremony being so imminent, we apologies for causing concern to those involved in the Olympics, to the citizens of Tokyo and the Japanese public,” Hashimoto said in a press statement.
Kentaro Kobayashi who used to be a comedian, has been heavily criticized for the comments, including from global rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC). “Any person, no matter how creative, does not have the right to mock the victims of the Nazi genocide,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC Associate Dean and Global Social Action Director said.
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Kobayashi also issued a statement responding to his dismissal. “Entertainment should not make people feel uncomfortable. I understand that my stupid choice of words at that time was wrong, and I regret it,” it said.
The organizers of the Tokyo games have had to deal with other high-profile resignations too. In March, creative chief Hiroshi Sasaki quit after suggesting that plus-size comedian Naomi Watanabe could appear as an “Olympig”. He later apologized.
