Oscars 2016: Twitter reacts to 'Asian joke' at Academy Awards
During Sunday night's Academy Awards broadcast, host Chris Rock brought three young Asian Americans on stage for a joke -- but not all viewers were laughing.
These kids look like the job of PriceWaterhouseCoopers accountant terrifies them. #Oscarspic.twitter.com/XNlrREej2Y
— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) February 29, 2016
It was a joke that involved a stereotype about Asians being good at math (the three children were introduced as PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants with Asian- and Jewish-sounding names), but ended with Rock saying onstage, "If anybody's upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone, which was also made by these kids."
This kid had me cracking up, just fantastic pic.twitter.com/rzMSrMrGMH
— Stu Motown #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) February 29, 2016
On Twitter, the response was swift:
Umm, no @chrisrock. Using little Asian kids to joke about math stereotypes and child labor isn't funny.
— HapaMama (@HapaMamaGrace) February 29, 2016
WHAAAAAAAT was that joke with the Asian kids. #Oscars
— Angry Asian Man (@angryasianman) February 29, 2016
Think my brain shut down for a few minutes. Did that appalling joke about Asian kids actually happen? #Oscars
— Justin Chang (@JustinCChang) February 29, 2016
Joking about Asian stereotypes and child slave labor didn't garner a laugh from me @chrisrock#Oscars#DoBetter
— Eliel Cruz (@elielcruz) February 29, 2016
They played off Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy talking about honor killings but they gave Chris Rock 45 seconds for that bit??
— Kat Dennings (@OfficialKat) February 29, 2016
Others pointed out the lack of diversity at the Academy Awards included a lack of Asian and Asian-American representation:
How unnecessary to make fun of Asians on the #Oscars when Hollywood isn't even evolved enough to give Asians Asian-specific roles yet.
— Jen Chae (@frmheadtotoe) February 29, 2016
So we’re all upset about the racial makeup of the Oscars but it’s OK to make fun of Asian kids onstage?
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) February 29, 2016
like yo, there were more Minions on stage than Asians tonight and you had to make that joke?
— でじこと Dexter Thomas (@dexdigi) February 29, 2016
While Asians and Asian Americans were not entirely absent from the stage on Sunday (Priyanka Chopra, Lee Byung-hun, and Dev Patel were presenters, while Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy picked up her second statue for her short subject documentary "A Girl in the River"), many have pointed out Hollywood's historic lack of recognition for Asians.
One flaw in Chris Rock's excellent #Oscars monologue - problem goes beyond just Black talent, also affects Asians, Latinos, Muslims, Arabs..
— Wajahat "Wears a Mask Because of a Pandemic" Ali (@WajahatAli) February 29, 2016
What did you think of the Academy Awards?
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