Tokyo Olympics creative director fired over 1990s comedy skit mocking the Holocaust
(JTA) — The creative director of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony has been fired after a Holocaust joke he made during a 1990s comedy skit drew attention this week.
Kentaro Kobayashi, a popular comedian and actor, joked during a television appearance in the 1990s, “Let’s play the genocide of the Jews,” according to a video that began circulating early Wednesday.
五輪開会式ディレクターのラーメンズ・小林賢太郎さんが、「ユダヤ人大量虐殺ごっこをやろう」とホロコーストをネタにしてる動画です。https://t.co/dkDSArte0r pic.twitter.com/KJx02obaC7
— 実話BUNKAタブー編集部 (@BUNKA_taboo) July 21, 2021
By the end of the night, he had been fired — less than 48 hours before the opening ceremony for the beleaguered Olympics, which was rescheduled from 2020 because of COVID-19.
Kobayashi is the second Tokyo Olympics creative director to be fired over offensive comments. His predecessor was fired in March for mocking the weight of a female comedian. The composer for the opening ceremony stepped down this week amid revelations that he had bragged about abusing a child with disabilities.
Seiko Hashimoto, who became the Tokyo Olympics’ committee president in February after her predecessor stepped down over past sexist comments, said she regretted not moving faster in other cases and sought to move swiftly in evaluating Kobayashi’s comments. “As soon as possible we decided we will have to address the issue and we decided on the dismissal,” she said, according to tweets from New York Times reporter Motoko Rich.
The post Tokyo Olympics creative director fired over 1990s comedy skit mocking the Holocaust appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30