• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • World
  • Social
  • Crypto Currencies
  • Privacy Policy

NewsOTP

You Everyday Online News

Japanese musician of Senegalese origin reportedly excluded from Olympics opening ceremony over skin color

July 23, 2021 by World News

A Senegalese musician says he was cut from performing at the Tokyo Olympic opening ceremony because organisers did not want a black face in the show.

Latyr Sy, a percussionist who has lived and performed in Japan for more than 20 years, was set to play in Friday’s showpiece at the National Stadium. But he was told that his role had been removed by Tokyo 2020 organisers who thought it was inappropriate to have black faces at the event and were worried it would force them to represent a wide spectrum of ethnicities.

Sy says he was booked for the ceremony in December and was sent the rehearsal schedule in April. He was sent instructions to block out his diary, turning down other work, was sent papers to keep the show’s plans confidential, and was told to take his temperature each day in the build-up to monitor possible Covid symptoms.

In May he enquired to find out why there had been delays in sending through his contract, and in the meeting which followed it was explained to Sy by a PR company that organisers had rejected plans to include him in the ceremony, questioning why an African man should be in the show.Sy was told that a representative of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee was concerned that if they allowed an African musician to perform, they would then have to hire many different ethnicities and nationalities.“It’s totally racist,” Sy says. “I was told they said ‘Why this guy? Why this African guy?’ I’ve seen a lot of stuff, I’ve felt a lot of things, but this just doesn’t fit with the Olympics. Why should I be silent?”

He was upset when he saw the rehearsal on television and realised his section of the show was still included even after his role and that of another Senegalese musician had already been scrapped.“When I saw it I just felt sad,” he said. “I’m from a small island, a slave island called Goree. I lived in this country for more than 20 years and this scandalous Olympics… it hurts. I’m afraid to talk but I’m just ready to let it out. I want to share my story. I’m not trying to blame anybody, we just have to let the people know this happened.”Sy has previously performed with a number of high-profile Japanese artists and has travelled internationally to play on behalf of the Japanese government. He said he didn’t want attention but realised the importance of telling his experience after the reaction he drew posting about it on social media.He added: “It’s not about the money, it’s just I feel sad and I feel disappointed about this. This is unfair. I did everything for this country. I arrived in 1994, I performed with Japanese artists everywhere, I participate in so many things. I went all over the world. And this is what I get.”

Tokyo 2020 has not responded to the allegations after being approached for comment.
It is the latest in a series of damning incidents in the lead up to the Games. The director of the opening ceremony Kentaro Kobayashi was sacked on Thursday after historical footage emerged of him making jokes about the Holocaust.Earlier this week the ceremony also lost its musical composer Keigo Oyamada, who resigned after it emerged he had bullied classmates and boasted about it in a magazine interview.In March the Olympics’ creative chief Hiroshi Sasaki was forced to resign after calling female comedian Naomi Watanabe an “Olympig” and suggesting she could wear pig ears at the opening ceremony.And in February the head of the Games’ organising committee Yoshiro Mori resigned after making sexist comments. The 84-year-old was quoted as saying women talk too much and that meetings with multiple female directors would “take a lot of time”. Around 400 people withdrew from the Olympic volunteer programme after the comments were made.

Source @INDEPENDENT

Filed Under: Social

Primary Sidebar

You May Like

China lodges protest after Japanese PM refers to Taiwan as a country

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a press conference at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo on May 28, 2021, as the government expanded a coronavirus state of emergency. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, sparked an uproar of Chinese outrage this week when he referred to Taiwan […]

The Philippines Wins Its First Olympic Gold After Nearly 100 Years Of Trying

TOKYO| Hidilyn Diaz of the Philippines celebrates winning the women’s 55-kilogram weightlifting match at the Tokyo 2020 Games — her country’s first Olympic gold medal. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz made history Monday, winning the Philippines’ first gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The country had been trying to reach the podium’s top spot for […]

Every Year, This Japanese Shrine Holds the Weirdest Ritual You’ll Ever See

JAPAN| The Aruka Shrine in Japan’s Ebina City is the oldest shrine in all of Sagami Province, but to the general public it’s known for a unique ceremony that involves a priest wearing a 2-meter-long headgear in the shape of a green onion. Negi-san, the head priest at Aruka Shrine has been performing the green […]

George Boateng: Ghanaian in Japan says his body Should not be Returned to Ghana if he dies

George Boateng, a man from Ghana who now resides in Japan has made some profound comments after he was asked in a live interview if he will ever return to his home country. Chris Vincent, who interviewed the gentleman, and shared a snippet of the video on his personal Facebook handle which has gotten a […]

Belarusian Olympic sprinter Seeks Refuge in Japan, Fearing Jail at Home

TOKYO| A Belarusian sprinter said Sunday that she was under the protection of the Japanese police after her country’s Olympic Committee tried, but failed, to forcibly send her home after she criticized her coaches for registering her for the wrong event. The sprinter, Kristina Timanovskaya, announced Sunday evening on Instagram that she had sought protection […]

Saitama police chief resigns after drunken theft of 5 rolls of toilet paper

The chief of the Fukaya Police Station has resigned after an investigation revealed his alleged theft of toilet paper last month, police said on Thursday, reports TBS News At around 8:00 p.m. on May 29, Takashi Tanaka, 60, allegedly stole five rolls of toilet paper — valued at around 170 yen — from a toilet […]

First case of coronavirus in Olympic Village confirmed six days before Opening Ceremony

TOKYO| The first positive coronavirus case inside the Olympic Village has been confirmed just six days before the Opening Ceremony, officials said Saturday, amid growing fears about the spread of the virus during the Games. Tokyo Olympics organizing committee officials declined to identify the person infected with the virus but said the individual had traveled […]

Frenchman’s Tokyo hunger strike over ‘abducted’ kids in third week

JAPAN| A Frenchman on hunger strike in Tokyo seeking access to his children said an appeal from President Emmanuel Macron to Japan’s leader had “changed nothing”, as his protest entered its third week. Vincent Fichot, 39, says his two children were abducted by their Japanese mother, and he has been on hunger strike since July […]

Toyota is quietly pushing Congress to slow the shift to electric vehicles

TOYOTA| While the United States is slowing down in adopting policies to increase electric vehicle use, Toyota says it is not slow enough. The Japanese automaker is the largest in the world and has quietly lobbied Washington DC policymakers to resist the desire to switch to all-electric vehicles. This is partly because Toyota is behind […]

This Japanese Building Has a Highway Passing Right Through It

JAPAN| The Gate Tower Building is one of the many several tall office buildings that make up Osaka’s impressive skyline, but there is something about it that makes it unique in the world – it has a functional highway going right through it. Photos of this architectural anomaly have been doing the rounds on social […]

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in