Back to the Orlando City SC Newsfeed

Olympic opening ceremony director is fired over a Holocaust joke he made in 1998

Related Topics: The Holocaust, Tokyo, Seiko Hashimoto

TOKYO — The Tokyo Olympics organizing committee fired the director of the opening ceremony Thursday because of a Holocaust joke he made during a comedy show in 1998.

Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said opening ceremony director Kentaro Kobayashi has been dismissed. He was accused of using a joke about the Holocaust in his comedy act, including the phrase “Let’s play Holocaust,” in one of his shows.

Earlier this week, a composer whose music is expected to be used at the opening ceremony was forced to resign because of past bullying of his classmates, which he boasted about in magazine interviews.