Kentaro Kobayashi, the director of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, has been fired one day before the event itself. Kobayashi was reportedly fired because of a Holocaust joke he performed during a comedy show in 1998. 
'We found out that Mr. Kobayashi, in his own performance, has used a phrase ridiculing a historical tragedy,' organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said in a statement.
'We deeply apologize for causing such a development the day before the opening ceremony and for causing troubles and concerns to many involved parties as well as the people in Tokyo and the rest of the country,' the statement continued.
Kobayashi has apologized for the incident. The news of Kobayashi's termination is the latest piece of bad news to plague the upcoming Olympics.
Previously, Keigo Oyamada, a music composer for the opening ceremony, resigned after interviews from the 1990s surfaced of him boasting about bullying disabled people. Kobayashi is said to have bullied disabled people, too, reports NPR.
'As far as the Opening Ceremony is concerned, this is a very critical matter so therefore it's important that we put up a respectable Opening Ceremony. We will exert our maximum efforts towards that,' Hashimoto said, via NPR.
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