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And Finally Artist News
Sony Music Japan apologises after Keyakizaka46 perform in Nazi-like uniforms
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 2 November 2016
Sony Music Japan has apologised after girl group Keyakizaka46 – an offshoot of AKB48 – performed a Halloween show dressed in outfits resembling Nazi uniforms.
In a statement, the record label blamed a “lack of understanding”, saying: “We express our heartfelt apology for causing offence. We take the incident seriously and will make efforts to prevent a reoccurrence of a similar incident in the future”.
The band’s producer Yasushi Akimoto also apologised for the “mismanagement” in a statement on the band’s website.
The apologies were published after Jewish human rights organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Center highlighted the offensive stagewear. A representative of the group, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, said in a statement: “We are calling on Sony Music and the group’s producer, Yasushi Akimoto, to apologise for this inappropriate and deeply offensive presentation. Watching young teens on the stage and in the audience dancing in Nazi-style uniforms causes great distress to the victims of the Nazi genocide”.
“This is a time when the Simon Wiesenthal Center is struggling against increased anti-Semitic attacks and burgeoning online hate around the world”, he continued. “Even if there was no harm intended by the group, that performance cheapens the memory of victims of the Nazis and sends the wrong message to young people in Germany and other countries where neo-Nazi sentiment is on the rise. We expect better from an international brand like Sony which has caused embarrassment to Japan”.
This is not the first complaint the Simon Weisenthal Center has made to Sony Music. In 2011, it expressed “shock and dismay” at outfits resembling Nazi uniforms worn by members of rock band Kishidan. The group’s management company, Sony Music Artists, said at the time that the costumes were “not meant to carry any ideological meaning whatsoever” but apologised for “the distress they have caused”.
