TOKYO — A popular teenage all-girls band in Japan is under fire for performing in outfits resembling Nazi-era German military uniforms.
The members of Keyakizaka46 appeared recently in dark gray capes and knee-length dresses that look like military overcoats, and wore officer caps with a Nazi-like eagle emblem.
The U.S.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center says it is disgusted by the uniforms and is calling on Sony Music and the group’s producer to apologize. The center is a human rights group focused on anti-Semitism and hate speech.
The Wiesenthal Center’s Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a statement Monday that “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.”
Sony officials were not immediately available for comment.
