Japanese composer and producer Cornelius — who resigned from the Tokyo Summer Olympics opening ceremony after old quotes that found him admitting to bullying classmates resurfaced — has released a new statement denying the claims.
Cornelius, real name Keigo Oyamada, posted the statement to his Instagram account this past Friday (September 17). In it, Oyamada commented specifically on two controversial interviews that he did with magazines Rockin' On Japan and Quick Japan in 1994 and 1995 respectively, and partially walked back the apology that he'd previously issued.
In the statement, Oyamada said that the interviews — and the upsetting quotes in question — were inaccurately reported and misleading. He claims that while the interview appears to attribute the violent and degrading bullying to him, he was simply relaying scenes that he had witnessed as a child.
"Since I could not check the manuscript for Rockin' On in advance, it was only after the release of the publication that I saw the article. I was shocked with the factual inaccuracies, but at that time I did not have the maturity to realize that I should correct them. In hindsight, I regret that I did not set the record straight directly with Rockin' On," he said.
On his interview with Quick Japan, Oyamada added:
I had agreed to an interview with Quick Japan (Aug. 1995 issue) with bullying as the theme, as I had felt that I wanted to correct the misinformation. The publisher's plan and intention of using bullying as the main subject of the article, to my current understanding, is unethical and lacking consideration for the feelings of the victims and people that were in the same position. However, at the time, I did not think about this and did the interview and explained what I had witnessed as a child.
Oyamada had previously released a statement directly after his resignation, in which he said: "I sincerely accept the opinions and advice I have received, express my gratitude, and will keep them in mind for my future actions and thoughts and I apologize from the bottom of my heart."
Read his full statement below.
Cornelius, real name Keigo Oyamada, posted the statement to his Instagram account this past Friday (September 17). In it, Oyamada commented specifically on two controversial interviews that he did with magazines Rockin' On Japan and Quick Japan in 1994 and 1995 respectively, and partially walked back the apology that he'd previously issued.
In the statement, Oyamada said that the interviews — and the upsetting quotes in question — were inaccurately reported and misleading. He claims that while the interview appears to attribute the violent and degrading bullying to him, he was simply relaying scenes that he had witnessed as a child.
"Since I could not check the manuscript for Rockin' On in advance, it was only after the release of the publication that I saw the article. I was shocked with the factual inaccuracies, but at that time I did not have the maturity to realize that I should correct them. In hindsight, I regret that I did not set the record straight directly with Rockin' On," he said.
On his interview with Quick Japan, Oyamada added:
I had agreed to an interview with Quick Japan (Aug. 1995 issue) with bullying as the theme, as I had felt that I wanted to correct the misinformation. The publisher's plan and intention of using bullying as the main subject of the article, to my current understanding, is unethical and lacking consideration for the feelings of the victims and people that were in the same position. However, at the time, I did not think about this and did the interview and explained what I had witnessed as a child.
Oyamada had previously released a statement directly after his resignation, in which he said: "I sincerely accept the opinions and advice I have received, express my gratitude, and will keep them in mind for my future actions and thoughts and I apologize from the bottom of my heart."
Read his full statement below.
