In the video clip,Kobayashi described the Holocaust as a “let’s massacre Jewish people game”.
Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto said she learnt of the comments on Wednesday morning,less than 72 hours out from the opening ceremony,which is set to be watched by billions of viewers around the world.
“It came to light that during a past performance,he used language that mocked a tragic fact of history,” she said at a press conferencein Tokyo on Thursday.
“As soon as possible we decided we will have to address the issue and we decided on the dismissal.”
Tokyo Olympics CEO Toshito Muto said “we are going to review the entire program”.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre,a Jewish human rights organisation,condemned Kobayashi’s comments.