Olympic opening ceremony director fired for Holocaust joke

(AP) The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has fired the director of the opening ceremony because of a Holocaust joke he made during a comedy show in 1998.

Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto says opening ceremony director Kentaro Kobayashi has been dismissed. He was accused of using a joke about the Holocaust in his comedy act in one of his shows.

His dismissal comes the day before Friday’s opening ceremony of the pandemic-delayed Games. A composer whose music is expected to be used at the opening ceremony was forced to resign this week because of past bullying of his classmates.