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The Fallout of a Callout
What happens after a public callout? Hari Kondabolu and Hank Azaria, the voice of Apu on The Simpsons, speak to each other publicly for the first time since Hari's documentary The Problem With Apu came out in 2017.

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A disguise hides even more than identity in Asian American spy stories
Drawing a line through The Sympathizer, M. Butterfly, and espionage history.

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"Noodles are tasty": The economic implications behind race and cultural appropriation in food media
Discussing cultural appreciation and appropriation is also about broader questions of who can get a platform to share food -- and who profits.

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Surgeon General: We Have Become a Lonely Nation. It's Time to Fix That.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is introducing a new framework to address loneliness in the United States this week, writing in a new op-ed that social connections must be a "top public health priority" in the country.

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Streaming has twice the AAPI representation of broadcast, report shows
While Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders still struggle with feeling represented, new research shows that streaming platforms are a significantly more inclusive space for them.

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In Nida Manzoor's World, Martial Arts and Jane Austen Belong in the Same Movie
Writer-director Nida Manzoor set out to make "a joyful film about South Asian Muslim women" that didn't revolve around trauma. The result is Polite Society.

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Greta Lee and Steven Yeun Have an Emotionally X-Rated Conversation
A professional scene-stealer in shows like Russian Doll and The Morning Show, Greta Lee’s career blew up at Sundance when her movie Past Lives wowed the entire festival and made the actor an early awards contender.

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The big casting blunder on ‘Beef’ sends a message
"When we talk about rebuilding Hollywood, we can't do it on the same rotten foundations. And ironically, the lesson of Beef itself is that as much as it hurts to reckon with our own failures, it hurts more people and causes more damage when we fail to do so -- all of which is to say, the individuals and institutions associated with the show can’t stay silent."

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We're in Asian America's peak media moment. But 'Beef' has poisoned the well
"To uncritically embrace Beef for what it gives to the Asian American community shows that we’re on board with rape culture and with misogyny, especially against Black women. To embrace it shows that we're willing to let others pay the price for our feelings of validation and belonging."

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Juggling College With a Media Job. Now Both Are Over.
Emma Choi, NPR’s first Gen Z podcast host, went from being an intern to landing her own show in less than a year. Then she got laid off.

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This Asian American Farmer Wants to Create a Home for Rare Heirloom Asian Vegetables
One of California's most prominent farmers, Kristyn Leach hopes to create a permanent home in Sebastopol for her work preserving Asian heirloom vegetables and seeds.

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When a Margaret Cho DVD Was Like Precious Contraband to Atsuko Okatsuka
Comedians Margaret Cho and Atsuko Okatsuka both imagined the other was born confident -- but it took years for each to find her voice."

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Hari Kondabolu is a Vacation Daddy
Stand-up comic Hari Kondabolu discusses pandemic fatherhood, humor and his new special Vacation Baby.

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Nida Manzoor Is Changing The Way Muslim Women Are Portrayed On Screen
Nida Manzoor's debut feature Polite Society centers on Ria, a British Pakistani teen aspiring to be a stunt performer in movies, who stages a heist in order to stop her older sister's wedding to "a rich Mr. Darcy wanker."

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'It's about time': How 'Indian Matchmaking' found love - and success - on Netflix
The creator of the reality TV dating series Indian Matchmaking, which recently premiered its third season on Netflix, talks about her hit show, which unleashed an international discussion about arranged marriage.

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New Asian American and Pacific Islander Literature for AAPI Heritage Month and Beyond
"...this AAPI Heritage Month, truly engage with contemporary AAPI literature. Dive deep, and delight in the experience. These books are important, they’re works of art, and they’re frankly just really good reads."

They Call Us Bruce 194: They Call Us K-Pop Dreaming

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we welcome Vivian Yoon, host and writer of the podcast K-Pop Dreaming from LAist Studios, a journey through the rise and history of K-pop in the United States, mapped against Vivian's own coming-of-age as a second generation Korean American in Los Angeles. We talk about some of the unknown stories behind K-pop's ascent, how diasporic Korean identity has always been in conversation with K-pop, and how to feel, as Asian Americans, about K-pop's seemingly sudden global dominance and ubiquity.

They Call Us Bruce 193: They Call Us Beef

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we welcome back the Bruce Crew, perennial favorite guests Rebecca Sun of The Hollywood Reporter and Dino-Ray Ramos of DIASPORA, to slice, dice and discuss the Netflix series Beef. They talk about the evolution and future of Asian American storytelling, the seductive appeal of the worship leader oppa, and what happens when Asian American character are allowed to be their whole, messy, specific selves. Also, stick around for the bonus SPOILER discussion at the end of the episode.

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Did the last census overcount Asian Americans? It depends on where you lookA new report is complicating an unusual finding from the U.S. Census Bureau's own report card on the accuracy of its 2020 head count of the country's population: a national overcount of Asian Americans.

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In 'Beef,' Road Rage Is Only the Beginning
Steven Yeun and Ali Wong star in this comedy about a traffic incident that triggers a bitter feud. "It really is about how hard it is to be alive," said Lee Sung Jin, the creator.

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'These Characters Happen to Be Asian American, but There's So Much More to Them'
Lee Sung Jin discusses the nuances of the characters' dynamics in Beef, the nostalgia he embedded in the Korean church scenes and why he conceives of himself as a character-first writer.

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Steven Yeun talks about 'Beef,' his new hate-fueled Netflix series with Ali Wong
NPR's Brittany Luse, host of It's Been a Minute, talks with actor Steven Yeun about his new Netflix series.

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Actor Young Mazino Feels Right At Home With Netflix's Beef
Breakout actor Young Mazino made things personal with his role as Steven Yeun's brother in Beef.

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From Vintage Issey Miyake To Rachel Comey, Beef’s Fashion Is As Dramatic As The Show Costume designer Helen Huang talks about how the idea of contradictions -- that underneath our pristinely curated appearances is a simmering well of complexity, fury, and shame -- is a recurrent theme throughout Beef.

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Viet Thanh Nguyen on the Cover of His New Memoir
"It often feels like a cover designer I have not met has captured some dimension of the book I have not been aware."

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Ling Ling Huang and Constance Wu on Toxic Ideals and the Dark Side of the Wellness Industry
Huang's debut novel critiquing beauty and wellness products caught Constance Wu's attention – and now a television series in the works.

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Nicole Chung on Writing Through Grief and How to Begin Again
In her second memoir, A Living Remedy, Nicole Chung writes of losing both her father and mother to illness within a short span while interrogating issues of class and the inequities of medical care in the United States.

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Brandon Lee’s loved ones remember ‘The Crow’ star 30 years after his death
Loved ones remember Brandon Lee, thirty years after his tragic accidental death on the set of The Crow.