{"id":25855,"date":"2021-07-22T08:40:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T08:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kumasionlinegh.com\/?p=25855"},"modified":"2021-07-22T08:40:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T08:40:53","slug":"olympics-opening-ceremony-director-sacked-for-holocaust-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kumasionlinetv.com\/?p=25855","title":{"rendered":"Olympics opening ceremony director sacked for Holocaust joke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The show director of the Olympics opening ceremony has been dismissed, one day before the event is due to be held.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Footage of Kentaro Kobayashi from the 1990s recently emerged in which he seems to be making jokes about the Holocaust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Japan\u2019s Olympic chief Seiko Hashimoto said the video ridiculed \u201cpainful facts of history\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dismissal is the latest in a string of scandals to hit the Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It comes days after a composer quit the team creating the ceremony after it emerged he had bullied classmates with disabilities at school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In March, creative chief Hiroshi Sasaki quit after suggesting that plus-size comedian Naomi Watanabe could appear as an \u201cOlympig\u201d. He later apologised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in February, Yoshiro Mori was forced to step down as the head of the organising committee after he made remarks about women that were criticised as \u201cinappropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Mori was quoted as saying women talked too much and that meetings with many female board directors would \u201ctake a lot of time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This latest scandal has seen former comedian Kobayashi strongly criticised for a sketch he performed 23 years ago, in which he and another comedian pretend to be children\u2019s entertainers. Mr Kobayashi then turns to his colleague, referring to some paper dolls, saying they are \u201cthe ones from that time you said \u2018let\u2019s play the Holocaust&#8217;\u201d, according to news agency AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny person, no matter how creative, does not have the right to mock the victims of the Nazi genocide,\u201d Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean and global social action director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Kobayashi also issued a statement responding to his dismissal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEntertainment should not make people feel uncomfortable. I understand that my stupid choice of words at that time was wrong, and I regret it,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The scandals have done little to stop rising unease about the Games, which were postponed from last year due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A recent poll found some 55% of people in Japan were opposed to holding the Games, amid fears it could become a super-spreader event, news agency Reuters reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Already, organisers are dealing with rising Covid case numbers among athletes and officials. On Thursday, they said 91 people accredited for the Games have now tested positive for the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An increase in cases among Japan\u2019s population \u2013 only of a third of whom have been vaccinated \u2013 has also led to a state of emergency being declared for the duration of the Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Tokyo 2020 is now under way, with the hosts Japan winning their softball match on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/citinewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/A-photo-of-Kentaro-Kobayashi-is-held-up-in-2019-by-Tokyo-2020-organisers.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-771546\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The opening ceremony will officially kick off two weeks of competition. However, after the removal of Mr Kobayashi, organisers are now re-assessing how to hold Friday\u2019s event \u2013 which will only be attended by 950 people, in order to minimise risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith the opening ceremony being so imminent, we apologise for causing concern to those involved in the Olympics, to the citizens of Tokyo and the Japanese public,\u201d Ms Hashimoto said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-57924885\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BBC<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Send your news stories to\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:dannyboy744@gmail.com\">dannyboy744@gmail.com<\/a>\u00a0and via WhatsApp on +233 266777777<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The show director of the Olympics opening ceremony has been dismissed, one day before the event is due to be held. Footage of Kentaro Kobayashi from the 1990s recently emerged in which he seems to be making jokes about the Holocaust. Japan\u2019s Olympic chief Seiko Hashimoto said the video ridiculed \u201cpainful facts of history\u201d. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Olympics opening ceremony director sacked for Holocaust joke - Kumasi Online TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kumasionlinetv.com\/?p=25855\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Olympics opening ceremony director sacked for Holocaust joke - Kumasi Online TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The show director of the Olympics opening ceremony has been dismissed, one day before the event is due to be held. Footage of Kentaro Kobayashi from the 1990s recently emerged in which he seems to be making jokes about the Holocaust. Japan\u2019s Olympic chief Seiko Hashimoto said the video ridiculed \u201cpainful facts of history\u201d. 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