Olympic Opening Ceremony Director Fired For Holocaust Joke He Made In 1998

[quote]He was accused of using a joke about the Holocaust in his comedy act, including the phrase “Let’s play Holocaust,” in one of his shows.

By accused they mean, it was on video.

[quote]Earlier this week, a composer whose music is expected to be used at the opening ceremony was forced to resign because of past bullying of his classmates, which he boasted about in magazine interviews.

And by "past bullying of his classmates" they mean .... "torturing and bullying special needs students by making them eat feces & masturbate in public" which he ADMITTED TO in an interview.

There's a huge industry of anti-semitism in Japan, OP, but I guess you wouldn't know that. Ever been outside the U.S.???

It depends on the rest of the joke. Even Jewish comedians try to be edgy with Holocaust related jokes. Maybe they can get a pass but I don't know.

The whole point of comedy is to OFFEND. Oh, and be funny while doing it.

Since they are cancelling people, why don't they cancel the men who are competing as WOMEN. Worse than Hitler!

What kind of sick fucks think that the extermination of Jews is funny?

Now they have the perfect cover story for a bad ceremony.

The word 'holocaust' means 'a big fire' to half the people on the planet.

Another half don't know the English language and another half are blissfully innocent of other people's memories and other people's sensitivities.

They're busy coping with their own lives in the here and now.

The bullying by that composer is sick. I thought he called people names or made fun of them. He sounds like a psychopath. Why are the Japanese so crazy when it comes to bullying?

They start this week? Wow. No one even seems to be paying attention. I didn't realize they were so close.

I HATE Holocaust jokes. Anne Frankly, I’m not putting up with them anymore.

She’s in the attic!

From Joan Rivers:

When critiquing supermodel Heidi Klum’s revealing, low-cut look at Sunday night’s Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscar party, Rivers felt it necessary to (yet again) invoke the Holocaust. “The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens,” Rivers said.

R12 Just like blacks calling each other the n word, Jews are allowed to make such jokes.

Something you NEVER EVER do is joke about the holocaust, just like you NEVER EVER say the n word. This was the right decision. Even back then he should have known better. That it was long ago is no excuse.

R1 holy. The guy deserves everything flying his way.

Rivers definitely picked the right time to check out. She'd hate this world.

23 years? There's no "statute of limitations" on this sort of thing?

I find it worrying that people are losing their sense of perspective and proportion; that this sort of attitude to past sins--where the ONLY possible outcome is summary dismissal and/or the end of someone's career--is being normalized. The disciplinary action taken against those who made tasteless, offensive jokes a few decades ago is the same as that for someone who was recently found guilty of sexual assault (as in the case of Philip Roth biographer Blake Bailey) and the same as for someone who published, without comment, an essay by #MeToo creep Jian Ghomeshi (as in the case of former NYRB editor-in-chief Ian Buruma, who was sacked a few years ago).

The worst part is that questioning the reasonableness of any of these decision is equated by many with condoning the behavior. "Mercy's anthithesis," indeed.

*decisions

The problem is they never should have been hired in the first place. That composer who bragged about forcing special needs kids to eat their own feces should never have had the kind of career he does, considering his past. I don't understand the thinking behind deciding that, since these men were already hired, they should just be kept on and everyone should just shrug off the fact that they're getting plum jobs.