The man in charge of directing Friday's Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony has just been fired hours before the start of the event ... after it was discovered he made a Holocaust joke in 1998.
Kentaro Kobayashi was canned Thursday after video surfaced of him making the wildly gross and inappropriate comment during a comedy act over two decades ago.
In the old clip, Kobayashi reportedly can be heard bringing up the Holocaust and saying, "Let's play the genocide of Jews."
Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said Thursday when the footage was brought to his attention .