How do you apologize for the abusive bullying of kids with disabilities in your past, a chapter of your life that, decades later, results in an international fiasco? If you’re Keigo Oyamada, you wait a while and shift the blame elsewhere.
The musician, best known by his solo alias Cornelius, found himself at the bottom of a media pile-on after interviews he gave in the 1990s to music magazines Quick Japan and Rockin’ On Japan re-emerged on social media, wherein he boasted about being a party to extreme acts of abuse inflicted on schoolmates with disabilities. Oyamada, 52, resigned from his position as a composer for the already beleaguered opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics as a result, issuing a general apology for his past actions.
He avoided attention in the weeks following, while live bookings fell by the wayside and educational TV shows he soundtracked were canceled. In the past week, however, Oyamada has re-appeared in an attempt to mend his image. He sat down with weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun for a two-hour interview in which he promised to reveal why he hadn't revisited the bullying statements since making them, and followed that with more detailed statements online in both Japanese and English.