OREANDA-NEWS. The director of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, Kentaro Kobayashi, has been fired, although the event itself will take place tomorrow - Friday, July 23rd.

According to the BBC, the reason for this was an old video from the 1990s, which shows Kobayashi making jokes about the Holocaust.

Kobayashi was previously a comedian, and his jokes and statements have been criticized in the past.

The director himself has already issued a statement after his dismissal, in which he stressed that jokes should not give people unpleasant emotions. "I understand that I was wrong, and the choice of words was stupid. I am very sorry about that," Kobayashi said.

The director was fired only some days after the composer left the team preparing the ceremony. He was caught in the fact that he abused classmates with disabilities at school.

Creative director Hiroshi Sasaki resigned in March. He stated that the well-known Japanese actress and comedian Naomi Watanabe could play the role of Olympig.

In February Yoshiro Mori, the head of the organizing committee, left his position. He is known to say that women talk too much and meetings with their participation are delayed.

The organizers have to work against the backdrop of an increase in the number of cases of coronavirus. There are infected among both athletes and officials. As of July 22, 91 games accredited have tested positive for COVID-19.

As ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov said during an online conference on Thursday, from 60 to 80 members of the Russian Olympic Committee team will take part in the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, there are no coronavirus cases among Russian Olympians.