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Tokyo Olympics faces PR disaster, forced to fire show director

Published

5 years ago

July 22, 2021

As the Tokyo games kicks off, the event is facing a PR disaster

The Tokyo Olympics has faced a major PR disaster when they were forced to fire the director of the opening ceremony after a decade-old video emerged of him joking about the Holocaust.

The scandal is the latest blow to the delayed tournament, which are taking place under unprecedented circumstances in Tokyo.

The games, held without spectators are against the wishes of much of the Japanese public as COVID-19 cases rise in the capital city.

“We have discovered that Kentaro Kobayashi in the past made fun of a painful part of history, so he has today been removed,”
Olympics chief Seiko Hashimoto said.

A video posted onto social media showed the now-former opening ceremony director when he was working as a comedian years ago, making jokes about the Holocaust.

Seiko Hashimoto, Minister for the Tokyo Olympic announed the termination of the opening ceremony director.

Japan’s Mainichi newspaper said the video dated to 1998

“Any association of this person to the Tokyo Olympics would insult the memory of six million Jews,”
it cited the center’s Associate Dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper as saying.

With the director fired at the last moment, it is unclear how the opening ceremony would be handled on Friday.