Another Olympic Opening Ceremony Hitch — The Director Is Fired For Holocaust Comments

https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/22/ [login to see] /another-olympic-opening-ceremony-hitch-the-director-is-fired-for-holocaust-comme
Just a day before the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, Japanese organizers have dismissed the show's director over past comments about the Holocaust. It's yet another setback for the troubled event on the same week that the ceremony's composer was forced out.

It's not clear yet how the last-minute departure of director Kentaro Kobayashi is going to affect the ceremony, which is expected to be an elaborate production unfolding over the course of three hours on Friday morning ET.

"How we're going to handle the ceremony is currently being discussed," organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto told reporters on Thursday.

Kobayashi, who is a comedian, reportedly made an anti-Semitic joke about the Holocaust in a 1998 show.

That act reportedly had a portion titled "Let's play Holocaust." It recently resurfaced in Japanese media in the lead-up to the Opening Ceremony.