Eddie Huang Can’t Catch a Break: WTF Is This Racist Ad for ABC’s Fresh Off The Boat?
More importantly, who the f*ck is getting fired for this ad?
Fresh Off the Boat, the new sitcom inspired by Eddie Huang’s memoir, can’t stop crapping itself with stupidity. Behold, this Tweet sent out by the show’s official Twitter handle (the pic linked below):
gotta hear both sides cc: @MrEddieHuang pic.twitter.com/PoTEeaoDiQ
— jay caspian kang (@jaycaspiankang) January 30, 2015
In case you’re missing it, that’s a sombrero, turban, and bamboo hat used to make the point that we’re all “fresh off the boat.” Not that we needed offensive and culturally inappropriate illustrations for us to understand that point.
Naturally, Huang had some sh*t to say about it.
@jaycaspiankang don't coopt me for cowboys bruh
— RICH HOMIE HUANG (@MrEddieHuang) January 30, 2015
@jaycaspiankang turban doe
— RICH HOMIE HUANG (@MrEddieHuang) January 30, 2015
.@chineseguy88 people at studio actually listen to you cause you're a "good chinaman" lol could u please have them take the turban ad down?
— RICH HOMIE HUANG (@MrEddieHuang) January 29, 2015
Let’s stop and recognize that for a second: this man, whose memoir got turned into a sitcom, doesn’t even feel that he has enough pull to take down this offensive advertisement.
.@originalspin @whoismims someone please reverse this @FreshOffABC at least they didn't do the native american with chicken pox blankie lol
— RICH HOMIE HUANG (@MrEddieHuang) January 29, 2015
.@originalspin @whoismims @FreshOffABC the root cause is hiring people who have NEVER LIVED THESE LIVES and paying them to represent us
— RICH HOMIE HUANG (@MrEddieHuang) January 29, 2015
@lxnro1988 @whoismims @originalspin maybe people are just fucking morons. you have to be a mouth breathing psycho to make that graphic
— RICH HOMIE HUANG (@MrEddieHuang) January 29, 2015
Well said.
The father of the actor playing young Eddie Huang, Hudson Yang, made excellent points to NBC News about the Tweet situation. From the New York Times culture writer Jeff Yang:
“This is where the problem is, with the show being such an exceptionally unique thing, and it really plays to being both an asset and a liability,” Yang told NBC News. “Inside the establishment, that’s only cracking the door to let us through, you still see these kinds of things happening on an all-too-regular basis. Not out of malice, but out of not having the right people in the mix, quite frankly.”
It’s not the first time that Huang has gone to bat to defend his original point of view expressed in his memoir, and to bash the creative processes that have stunted the sitcom. (Which, we should add, that we’re still excited to see.) ABC has made no comment to news outlets, but we’re sure there’s some firestorm in some agency. At least one can hope.
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