Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony director dismissed over historical Holocaust jokes

The director of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, Kentaro Kobayashi, has been dismissed from his role after footage emerged of him making jokes about the Holocaust in 1998.

Strong calls for his sacking came after a clip was widely shared on Japanese social media that showed the comedian in a TV skit which included the line “let’s play Holocaust”.

Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto confirmed Kobayashi’s dismissal just one day ahead of the opening ceremony, apologising “deeply” to those he offended and to the people of Japan for “causing inconvenience”.