Tokyo Olympic Chief Refuses to Resign Over Sexist ‘Women Talk Too Much’ Comment
MEDAL FOR STUPIDITY
Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Somebody really needs to take the microphone away from Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori. On Thursday, a day after the 83-year-old faced calls to resign after complaining that women talk too much, he made a fresh sexist remark while apologizing for his first. Mori initially offended everyone earlier this week, when he told a Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) board of trustees meeting: “If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying.” Understandably, the hashtag “Mori, please resign” then started trending on Twitter in Japan, and a press conference was hastily arranged for him to apologize. But, asked at that event whether he really thought women talk too much, he responded: “I don’t listen to women that much lately so I don’t know.” However, Mori did accept that his initial comment was “inappropriate.”