is a Japanese

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, and

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

. Outside Japan, he is most well known for directing and acting in "" videos (e.g. ""), and for playing the

Mac Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

(opposite

Jin Katagiri is a comedian, actor, sculptor, and potter from Saitama Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from Kasukabe High School and Tama Art University. Outside Japan, he is most well known for playing the PC (opposite Kentarō Kobayashi who plays the Mac ...

who plays the PC) in the "

Get A Mac The "Get a Mac" campaign was a television advertising campaign created for Apple Inc. (Apple Computer, Inc. at the start of the campaign) by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the company's advertising agency, that ran from 2006 to 2009. The advertising cam ...

" advertising campaign in Japan. He is a member of the

Rahmens is a Japanese comedy duo, referred to as an '' owarai kombi'', consisting of Jin Katagiri () and Kentarō Kobayashi (). Formation Katagiri and Kobayashi met as students and formed a conte group in 1996 while studying printmaking at Tama Art Uni ...

owarai is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the Honorific speech in Japanese#Honorific prefixes, honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". '' ...

'' comedy duo. His

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series, ''Hana Usagi'', ran from 1999 to 2004 in '' Young Magazine Uppers'' (published by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

Controversy

Kobayashi was assigned the role of Director of the

Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics, Games of the XII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1964 Summer Olympics, Games of the XVIII Olympiad * 2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an ...

Opening Ceremony; however, a 1998 comedy show recording of him making an insensitive joke about

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

surfaced. In that comedy show, he said "We tried to play Holocaust with these human-shaped papers for a kids TV show, but our producer heavily scolded us." It was pointed out that Kobayashi's selection may violate the

Olympic Charter The Olympic Charter is a set of rules and guidelines for the organisation of the Olympic Games, and for governing the Olympic movement. Its last revision was on the 17th of July 2020 during the List of IOC meetings, 136th IOC Session, held by v ...

, which advocates anti-discrimination. On 22 July, State Minister of Defense

Yasuhide Nakayama is a former Japanese politician who served as the Senior Vice Minister of Defense of Japan. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), he was elected in December 2012 as a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and re-elected in th ...

updated his Twitter account. He posted: "I immediately contacted and talked to

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...

(SWC)." The SWC released a statement and expressed the view that Kobayashi's jokes include those for people with disabilities. On 22 July 2021, the

Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games The (TOCOG) was the organisation responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. History The Organising Committee was launched on 24 January 2014, and is composed of members of the Japa ...

(TOCOG) dismissed Kobayashi. He made an apology comment and said: "My job is to entertain people. I should not make people feel uncomfortable. I understand that my stupid choice of words at that time was wrong, and I regret it."

Notes

External links

Kentaro Kobayashi
manga at Media Arts Database 1973 births Japanese male actors Japanese male comedians Japanese theatre directors Japanese theatre managers and producers Manga artists Dramaturges People from Kanagawa Prefecture Apple Inc. advertising Living people {{Japan-film-actor-stub

Controversy

See also

Notes

External links