Cornelius Cancelled

[Chedney Honks]

In the 90s, he admitted bullying disabled classmates when he was a kid. He made one put a cardboard box on his head, eaten his own shit and wank in public for his entertainment. Now it's come to light again so he's resigned from his role doing the music for the Olympics ceremony.

CRASHHHHHH

[Pauline Walnuts]

[madhair60]

deserves to die screaming

[Chedney Honks]

Free Fall

[Chedney Honks]

I Hate Hate

[mrClaypole]

Who's Cornelius?

[Chedney Honks]

Name: Cornelius

Escaped chimpanzee.

[up_the_hampipe]

Apparently he was boasting about it in a magazine interview in the 90s. I know it was a different time and all, but I'm pretty sure people would have been horrified even back then.

EDIT: Condensed info from his Wikipedia:

In interviews between 1994 and 1995, Oyamada stated that he had been involved in bullying and assaulting several students with apparent disabilities, over the years from when they were attending private elementary school through to high school. At the time, Oyamada dismissed the incidents with a laugh. In response to this, a dialogue between Oyamada and the victims was planned by the magazine, but all of the victims refused to meet him.

In an interview in 1995 for the "Quick Japan [ja]" magazine, Oyamada recalled bullying and assaulting students with disabilities, in various methods such as locking a student in a vaulting box, wrapping another student in gymnastics mattresses and kicking them, forcing a student to eat their excrement, taping a cardboard box around a student's head and pouring chalk inside, making fun of a disabled student running a long-distance race, as well as forcing a student to masturbate in front of other students.

"Yeah. I bullied many classmates. I think I bullied them really really badly. I take this opportunity to apologize (laughs)."

—Keigo Oyamada ("Rockin'On Japan", January 1994).

Jesus. Sounds like a Ricky Gervais DVD extra.

[bgmnts]

(Not so) Instant Karma!

[The Mollusk]

What the fuck

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

He sounds like a psychopath.

[sevendaughters]

I'm booked solid, I couldn't possibly cancel him until 2022

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

lame

[phantom_power]

Drop(ped by his agent, label and any appearances for the foreseeable future)

[Custard]

What a brave lad, bullying the disabled. And then bragging about it.

Get in ditch, then set fire to ditch

[peanutbutter]

Jesus. Sounds like a Ricky Gervais DVD extra.

That's what I thought too. Shockingly cunty stuff, cartoonishly so and yet real


Mildly amused by the idea he thought it was so funny in 1994 that he exaggerated some of the worst shit and he's now stuck with it. It's such a ridiculous list of things it's hard to comprehend but totally possible over the span of a few school years to rack up some horrific shit.

[idunnosomename]

what the fuck i thought this a shitpost

[Brundle-Fly]

Doesn't seem to be much contrition, does there? If it was a one off incident of teenage bullying that he regrets, you might turn a blind eye but this sounded like systematic torture on quite a scale.  is it too late to delete my 1997 Cornelius entry in the Alternative History of Pop thread? 

[Custard]

He did a really good remix of Blur's Tender that I now won't be able to listen to without imagining him cackling as he force-feeds some poor sod his own plops

NOT VERY TENDER IS IT

[The Mollusk]

I don't understand how people can go through their lives just not acknowledging this stuff and thinking everything will be fine, especially when they're internationally renowned. I sort of get it with more systemic abuse where white/male privilege elevates the ego to thinking it's bulletproof, but this is just a fucking bizarre thing to choose to overlook.

I lie awake at night poring obsessively over times in the past where I've embarrassed myself or might have offended or upset others (almost all of which are inconsequential and forgotten about), often wondering if I still need to go out of my way to apologise or make good on my words or actions. You'd think at some point in the nearly 30 years following that interview he might have tried to be like "Look, bullying is fucked, I did some proper nasty stuff when I was a kid, fuck knows what I was thinking and to even consider laughing about it is reprehensible. I'm not the person I was then, I've grown and I've learned, I'm genuinely sorry," but nah, nothing. I can't get my head around it.

[thugler]

I lie awake at night poring obsessively over times in the past where I've embarrassed myself or might have offended or upset others (almost all of which are inconsequential and forgotten about), often wondering if I still need to go out of my way to apologise or make good on my words or actions. You'd think at some point in the nearly 30 years following that interview he might have tried to be like "Look, bullying is fucked, I did some proper nasty stuff when I was a kid, fuck knows what I was thinking and to even consider laughing about it is reprehensible. I'm not the person I was then, I've grown and I've learned, I'm genuinely sorry," but nah, nothing. I can't get my head around it.

Yeah it completely baffles me how people can live with this shit let alone brag about it. I still feel guilty about standing by I've seen people being bullied. Talking about that seems either like a bizarre publicity stunt and not actually true or he's a psychopath and somehow nobody noticed

[Echo Valley 2-6809]

locking a student in a vaulting box, wrapping another student in gymnastics mattresses and kicking them, forcing a student to eat their excrement, taping a cardboard box around a student's head and pouring chalk inside

[Ron Maels Moustache]

Speaking of celebrity bully cunts, I really went off Jon Hamm after I read this paragraph from his wiki page under Criminal History:

While at the University of Texas, Hamm was arrested for participating in a violent hazing incident in November 1990. [20] The 20-year-old Hamm[20] lit the pledge's jeans on fire, shoved his face in the dirt, and struck him with a paddle over his right kidney, before leading the pledge around the fraternity house with a hammer claw around the pledge's testicles.[19] The incident resulted in the fraternity being shut down on campus. The pledge ended up needing medical care, and ultimately withdrew from school.[20] Hamm made a plea deal and completed probation under the terms of a deferred adjudication, allowing him to not actually be charged with a crime.[20][21][22][23] The charges were dismissed in August 1995.[21][23][22]

I mean that's just fucked, isn't it? Incredible it didn't really impact on his career when it came out around six years ago. Sounds like he's never really apologised for it or admitted the extent of his involvement either.

[Pauline Walnuts]

Jon Hamm? more like Jon Hammering deez testicals.

[The Mollusk]

I mean that's just fucked, isn't it? Incredible it didn't really impact on his career when it came out around six years ago. Sounds like he's never really apologised for it or admitted the extent of his involvement either.

I'm sure apologies were made during the court case. His acting breakthrough wasn't for another 17 years so it's unlikely an isolated crime in his adolescence would have made any impact on that success. I'm not justifying his actions at all, it is horrendous, but it is notably different to that of Cornelius in that we can't be sure if there was any repentance was made and also that he hasn't gone on record as laughing about it years later.

[up_the_hampipe]

Speaking of celebrity bully cunts, I really went off Jon Hamm after I read this paragraph from his wiki page under Criminal History:

I mean that's just fucked, isn't it? Incredible it didn't really impact on his career when it came out around six years ago. Sounds like he's never really apologised for it or admitted the extent of his involvement either.

Wow, I had no idea about this. It's amazing there's things like this that are easily found, but people aren't aware. It was the same with Bill Cosby's rape allegations, those were floating around for years. Meanwhile other celebs can be taken down by a tweet or Instagram comment that's been dug out from 8 years ago.

[The Mollusk]

Creditor: I understand that, Mr. Simpson, but according to our computer, your credit history is not good. It says here that you've been pre-declined for every major credit card. It also says that you once grabbed a dog by the hind legs and pushed him around like a vacuum cleaner.

Homer: That was in the third grade!

Creditor: Well, it all ends up on your permanent record.

[kngen]

Yeah it completely baffles me how people can live with this shit let alone brag about it. I still feel guilty about standing by I've seen people being bullied. Talking about that seems either like a bizarre publicity stunt and not actually true or he's a psychopath and somehow nobody noticed

Not to defend Oyamada in the slightest (and this has put me in the really shit mood, because I fucking love(d) Cornelius) but, until fairly recently, bullying used to be incredibly common in Japanese schools, and was pretty much encouraged as a form of social order. It wasn't until an epidemic of teenage suicides (and some pretty grisly murders, including a beheading) in the 2000s prompted a bit of national soul-searching, and thus the authorities realised that duty of care should probably include 'not allowing children's lives to become a living hell'. Battle Royale, the movie, was a pretty smart comment on the whole 'debate' at the time.

I'd imagine if you grew up in that environment, you'd probably be pretty blase about the horrible shit you'd done during your school days. Doesn't make you any less of a cunt though.

[Flouncer]

Not to defend Oyamada in the slightest (and this has put me in the really shit mood, because I fucking love(d) Cornelius) but, until fairly recently, bullying used to be incredibly common in Japanese schools, and was pretty much encouraged as a form of social order. It wasn't until an epidemic of teenage suicides (and some pretty grisly murders, including a beheading) in the 2000s prompted a bit of national soul-searching, and thus the authorities realised that duty of care should probably include 'not allowing children's lives to become a living hell'. Battle Royale, the movie, was a pretty smart comment on the whole 'debate' at the time.

I'd imagine if you grew up in that environment, you'd probably be pretty blase about the horrible shit you'd done during your school days. Doesn't make you any less of a cunt though.

I did a bit of reading about this case recently:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagamihara_stabbings

From what I could gather, it would seem that there is a lot of ableism in Japan; a prevailing attitude of keeping the disabled out of public view and treating them as something of an embarrassment to society. No doubt this is a factor in the sort of bullying this bloke admitted to carrying out, and might also explain his casual acknowledgement of his actions.

[Famous Mortimer]

My favourite "wow, Japan is different" story is the concrete-encased high school girl murder case.