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Japanese composer (Cornelius) who abused disabled classmates and forced them to perform sex acts remains involved in Tokyo Olympics [Up: He Quit]

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MikeHattsu

MikeHattsu

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Oct 25, 2017
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www.telegraph.co.uk

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 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.
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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."
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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."
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Edit: There's translations of parts of the magazine interviews in this post:
www.resetera.com

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 www.resetera.com
 
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Night

Night

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Nov 1, 2017
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Oh he was just a bully when he was in scho-

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.
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Holy shit, fuck this guy.
 
Jon_Sama

Jon_Sama

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Aug 19, 2018
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wooow,, did not know this about Cornelius, disgusted.

And he wasn't even a kid when he blatantly admitted to these things in interview, he was 25 at the time... I feel like tossing a couple songs off my spotify now
 
nsilvias

nsilvias

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Oct 25, 2017
23,712
Should have put cornelius in the title op. Cornelius is big with older western indie heads and 90s jpop fans

But yeah I did not know this about him. It doesn't reflect in his older music at all
 
Biestmann

Biestmann

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Oct 25, 2017
7,411
"We didn't know, cut us some slack. But also now that we do, we don't really care."

Also, there is being a child bully and being an absolute monster like this guy clearly was. JFC
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

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Oct 25, 2017
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I don't think you can dig out the sources from there, but Wikipedia claims that following this interview there were plans set for him to meet and apologize to the victims but they all refused.
 
GK86

GK86

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Oct 25, 2017
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He admitted to it in an interview? For a magazine? And he wasn't locked up?
 
Alucrid

Alucrid

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Oct 25, 2017
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guy uses cocaine - instantly deleted from the world
guy makes classmate eat their own feces - look he said he was sorry
 
astro

astro

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Oct 25, 2017
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To be clear, he did this when he was a kid right? And he revealed it years later as an adult?

That's probably why he has had no action taken, right? I'm not sure what the laws are here especially if the victims hadn't reported it and he just mentioned it in an interview. And Japan seems to hand wave a lot of this stuff anyway....
 

PRBoricua23

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Oct 27, 2017
313
Michigan
That's disgusting, quite frankly.

I haven't read the article yet, about too. But Jesus there's really no excuse at all for something like this.
 
Night

Night

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Nov 1, 2017
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astro said:
To be clear, he did this when he was a kid right? And he revealed it years later as an adult?

That's probably why he has had no action taken, right? I'm not sure what the laws are here especially if the victims hadn't reported it and he just mentioned it in an interview. And Japan seems to hand wave a lot of this stuff anyway....
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When he was a kid, yeah. It was so long ago and obviously, none of it was reported. No one is going to press charges. An apology was enough to keep him from being laid off.
 
Kei-

Kei-

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Mar 1, 2018
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I mean he was allowed to go on to a successful and decorated career, this is not at all surprising that there are no consequences now, why would there be?
 
Jebusman

Jebusman

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Oct 27, 2017
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Halifax, NS
astro said:
To be clear, he did this when he was a kid right? And he revealed it years later as an adult?

That's probably why he has had no action taken, right? I'm not sure what the laws are here especially if the victims hadn't reported it and he just mentioned it in an interview. And Japan seems to hand wave a lot of this stuff anyway....
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Him doing it to a disabled kid is probably part of why it gets waved away.

Japan's treatment of the disabled leaves a lot of be desired.
 

Deleted member 5129

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Oct 25, 2017
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On the one hand, this is insane and he was clearly a goddamn monster when he was a kid.

On the other hand, I don't know if it's particularly fair to punish a 52 year old guy that has clearly changed and feels remorse for his actions on stuff he did as a dumb kid.


Edit: I just saw the (laughs) in the old interview......... hmmm........... yeah nevermind maybe he should still be punished for it what the hell he gave that one when he was like 25
 
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Bubble Metropolis

Bubble Metropolis

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Oct 27, 2017
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When they say "at school," do they mean like, high school? Junior high school? As horrible as the descriptions in the article are, I don't know what you can reasonably do to a 52 year old man because he did shitty things when he was 14 or 15.

Even today juveniles can get away with incredibly awful criminal things without repercussions/having their names made public in accordance with Japanese law. They definitely aren't going to do shit 35 years after the fact.

If by "at school" they mean university or something, then absolutely fuck this guy.
 
Kewlmyc

Kewlmyc

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Oct 25, 2017
26,682
commits torture and crimes against his fellow classmates
"I think I was pretty immature."

Wow, fuck this dude.
 
Yukari

Yukari

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Mar 28, 2018
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808s & Villainy said:
How is this guy not in jail??
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GK86 said:
He admitted to it in an interview? For a magazine? And he wasn't locked up?
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astro said:
To be clear, he did this when he was a kid right? And he revealed it years later as an adult?

That's probably why he has had no action taken, right? I'm not sure what the laws are here especially if the victims hadn't reported it and he just mentioned it in an interview. And Japan seems to hand wave a lot of this stuff anyway....
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The Bully happen when he was a kid/teenager ('70-'80s era)

Japanese law/Society seem doesn't consider School Bully as a crime unless it makes the victim dead.
 
nsilvias

nsilvias

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Oct 25, 2017
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elementary to highschool and has already apologized in the past or at least "attempted" to.
from wikipedia
In an interview with Oyamada in a music magazine published on July 1, 1995, Oyamada stated during the interview that he had been involved in bullying and assaulting several students with disabilities over the years from elementary school to high school. In response to this, a dialogue between Oyamada and the victims was planned, but all of the victims refused to meet him. Oyamada himself said, "When I think about it now, I really did a terrible thing. I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize (laughs)[SUP][8][/SUP][SUP][9][/SUP].
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Hrodulf

Hrodulf

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Oct 25, 2017
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Jebusman said:
Him doing it to a disabled kid is probably part of why it gets waved away.

Japan's treatment of the disabled leaves a lot of be desired.
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This also happened when he was a juvenile, so he could have done just about anything he wanted and have it largely ignored because the punishment against juveniles in Japan is extremely light.
 
RPGam3r

RPGam3r

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Oct 27, 2017
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Has he done something more recent? Like he was a piece of shit in school and admitted to it himself. It's been decades, what is supposed to happen to him exactly?

Edit: unless his attitude persists today and then fuck what I just said.
 
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OP
MikeHattsu

MikeHattsu

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Oct 25, 2017
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RPGam3r said:
Has he done something more recent? Like he was a piece of shit in school and admitted to it himself. It's been decades, what is supposed to happen to him exactly?
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Maybe they shouldn't have somebody who admitted to making a disabled person eating feces involved with the Olympics and Paralympics?
 
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