Japanese composer axed from Olympics opening ceremony after boasts about abusing disabled classmates revealed
Keigo Oyamada, better known by his stage name Cornelius, has been one of Japan’s most successful singer-songwriters
www.telegraph.co.uk
Tokyo Olympics organisers insist they are happy for a famous Japanese musician to continue as a composer for next week's opening ceremony despite interviews resurfacing where he described abusing mentally ill classmates and forcing them to carry out sex acts in front of other students.
Keigo Oyamada, better known by his stage name Cornelius, has been one of Japan's most successful singer-songwriters over a career spanning more than 25 years and was this week named as one of the music composers for the Olympics opening ceremony.
That announcement saw two interviews he gave to Japanese music magazines in 1994 and 1995 resurface, in which he described inflicting horrific abuse on his peers when at school.
He describes locking a disabled classmate in a box, taping a cardboard box around his head and pouring chalk inside, wrapping him in a mattress and kicking him, making him eat his own faeces, and forcing him to masturbate in front of other students.
Following criticism of his Olympic role, Oyamada released a statement on Friday apologising for his actions but declined to step down from his role.
"I apologise from the bottom of my heart," said the 52-year-old. "In past magazine interviews, I spoke of my thoughtless remarks and actions towards my classmates in my school days and people with disabilities at neighbouring schools without reflecting on what I did at the time. I take it seriously that I deserve to be criticised.
"I sincerely apologise to my classmates and their parents who have been hurt by my words and actions, and I feel deep regret and responsibility for not being a good friend in school life, which is supposed to make good memories, but being in a position to hurt them.
"When I was a student and at the time of the interview, I couldn't imagine the feelings of the victims. I think I was very immature."
Asked on Saturday about Oyamada's involvement in the opening ceremony, Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto said he wanted the musician to remain involved.
"At the moment, he has made a full apology," said Muto. "He is sorry for his past actions and he has said that he wants to act with high morals.
"It is true that the organising committee was not aware of what Oyamada had done in the past. However, we have heard Oyamada's apology and we are hoping that he will continue to contribute to the Tokyo Games."
Edit: There's translations of parts of the magazine interviews in this post:
Japanese composer (Cornelius) who abused disabled classmates and forced them to perform sex acts remains involved in Tokyo Olympics [Up: He Quit] News - Entertainment
Seems there's translations of parts of the interviews here: https://oymdkgo.blogspot.com/2021/07/inquiry-into-behavior-of-keigo-oyamada.html There's a bunch more in the link, but not all of it. The thing in Quick Japan seems to have been a 22 page article in all. There's a few scanned...
www.resetera.com
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