Photo/Illutration Musician Keigo Oyamada (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A four-minute musical piece by composer Keigo Oyamada was cut from the program for the Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony after organizers finally severed ties with the admitted childhood bully and abuser.

The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on July 19 said it has accepted the resignation of Oyamada, 52, as a composer for the July 23 ceremony.

Oyamada, who is also known as Cornelius, has been under fire for boasting about his abuse of classmates and disabled children.

He also resigned from his position of overseeing the music for the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

The organizing committee is looking for music to replace the piece written by Oyamada, sources said.

The move by the committee was a sharp turnaround from its previous stance of keeping Oyamada in the position, despite the rising criticism and outrage over the composer’s past actions.

“We sincerely apologize for causing hardship for many people and creating confusion,” Toshiro Muto, CEO of the committee, said at a news conference that started at 10 p.m. on July 19.

Muto said the committee “came to realize that it was a wrong decision” to keep Oyamada in the position after the scandal broke out.

“Based on Mr. Oyamada’s sincere apology and remorse, and the fact that we are pressed for time before the Opening Ceremony, we thought it would be acceptable to ask him to continue to work,” Muto explained. “We made a naive judgment.”

The committee on July 14 announced the appointment of four composers, including Oyamada, for the Opening Ceremony.

The announcement was immediately met with strong criticism, mainly on social media, from people who recalled his comments published in the 1990s about how he abused classmates and humiliated disabled individuals.

Oyamada on July 16 apologized on Twitter for those remarks but said he would not resign as a composer for the Opening Ceremony.

The committee released a statement the same day, saying it “was not aware of his (past comments)” but they were “inappropriate.”

Still, the committee defended the composer.

“Now, he is a creator with high moral values who dedicates himself to creative activities,” the statement said.

According to a person related to the Games, Oyamada’s music was “very important for the order of the ceremony.”

But criticism continued to mount over the committee’s decision to appoint such a person for a global event that supposedly celebrates diversity and equality.

“We are at a loss to understand why the (Olympic and Paralympic organizers) thought (Oyamada) was suited for the position,” a joint association of organizations that support intellectually impaired people and their families said in a statement released on July 18.

Foreign media started reporting on the scandal, too.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato weighed in on July 19 and said Oyamada’s past remarks were “totally unacceptable.”

“The government has worked toward realizing a society of co-existence,” Kato said at a news conference. He urged the committee to “respond properly.”

Later in the day, both Oyamada and the committee conceded.

Oyamada said in a tweet, “I have become painfully aware that I lacked sensitivity to various people in my decision to accept the (job offer).”

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