The show director of the Olympics opening ceremony has been dismissed after he appeared to be making jokes about the Holocaust.
Footage of Kentaro Kobayashi from the 1990s recently emerged about him making the joke and the event organizers dismissed him, one day before the official opening ceremony .
Japan's Olympic chief Seiko Hashimoto called out the video saying it ridiculed "painful facts of history".
Last week, a composer quit the team creating the ceremony after it emerged he had bullied classmates with disabilities at school.
After Kobayashi’s dismissal, organisers are now re-assessing how to hold Friday's event.
"With the opening ceremony being so imminent, we apologise for causing concern to those involved in the Olympics, to the citizens of Tokyo and the Japanese public," Ms Hashimoto said in a statement.
Kentaro Kobayashi, who used to be a comedian, has been heavily criticised for the comments, including from global rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC).
"Entertainment should not make people feel uncomfortable. I understand that my stupid choice of words at that time was wrong, and I regret it," Kobayashi said in a statement.