gq editor and "asian whores"

Got a few emails last week telling me to check out the latest issue of GQ, page 28, for an article by the magazine's editor-in-chief. Not having a subscription, I filed it away to check it out the next time I went to the supermarket... Well, according to Page Six, GQ editor Jim Nelson uses the phrase "Asian whore" twice:

ON the heels of Don Imus, GQ editor Jim Nelson is drawing fire over his letter to readers in the May issue, where he uses the phrase "Asian whores" twice. In discussing the hit DVD "The Secret," which preaches the power of positive thinking, Nelson's letter coaxes, "visualize what you want (an Alfa Romeo? Leather pants? An Asian whore?), think positively, and 'the universe will . . . make it happen for you.'" Janice Lee, deputy executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association, told Page Six, "It is appalling that an editor would find it acceptable to use such racist and sexist language. That GQ is considered a 'men's magazine' is not an excuse." A spokesperson for the Asian American Justice Association told Page Six, "The use of the term 'Asian whore' was unnecessary. To racialize the term 'whore' is completely irrelevant in this context. It's disturbing." Nelson ends his letter with a "thumbs up" to any reader whose wishes are met. "If it's an Asian whore, congrats. But please don't make a DVD about it." Nelson told Page Six, "I think if you read you'll see I'm skewering a Western attitude that one ought to find noxious. The notion that Westerners can have and exploit whatever they want."

I don't buy this guy's excuse for a minute. The fact of the matter is, he used "Asian whore" because he thought it sounded funnier that just "whore" or some other racialized whore. That's racist!