TOKYO — Yoshiro Mori resigned Friday as the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee following sexist comments implying women talk too much.
“As of today I will resign from the president’s position,” he said to open an executive board and council meeting. The board was expected to pick his successor later on Friday. Mori was appointed in 2014, just months after Tokyo won the bid to host the Olympics.
“My inappropriate comments have caused a lot of chaos,” he said. He repeated several times he had regret over the remarks, but also said he had “no intention of neglecting women.”
Mori’s departure comes after more than a week of non-stop criticism about his remarks earlier this month. He initially apologized but refused to step away, which was followed by relentless pressure from television pundits, sponsors, and an online petition that drew 150,000 signatures.
The executive board did not immediately choose a successor for Mori, which CEO Toshiro Muto said would come “as soon as possible” and will be made by a review committee. He called it a “single-digit body” made up equally of men and women, and he repeatedly declined to give a specific time frame.
Muto also declined to say if Mori’s replacement would be a woman.
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