More chaos on eve of Olympics with Tokyo opening ceremony director sacked over Holocaust joke

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More chaos on eve of Olympics with Tokyo opening ceremony director sacked over Holocaust joke
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On the eve of the Tokyo Games, organisers have fired the director of the opening ceremony over comments he made about the Holocaust.

Media also reported former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a memorable advocate for the Tokyo Games, would skip the showpiece event.

Mr Abe, who famously dressed up as the titular plumber from video game Super Mario at the Rio Games to represent Japan, played an outsized role in attracting the Olympics to Tokyo. Instead, the Games, delayed a year because of the pandemic, has faced a series of setbacks, including the exit of Yoshiro Mori, the former head of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, who resigned after making sexist remarks.

The Tokyo organising committee said on Thursday Kentaro Kobayashi, who is listed as the show director for the Games' opening event, had been fired after a joke he made about the Holocaust as part of a comedy act in 1998 resurfaced in domestic media.The opening ceremony on Friday, which normally stands as a major showcase of the host nation, is set to be subdued with Japanese media reporting that less than 950 people - including only around 15 global leaders - are set to attend.

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