Jenny Yang has some "gentle fun" with white people

"How was Burning Man?"



In ongoing saga of Jesse Watters' unwelcome visit to Chinatown, the now-infamous, craptastically racist Fox News segment has inspired some epic clap backs. In addition to Ronny Chieng's ferocious segment on The Daily Show, we've now got this awesome woman-on-the-street piece featuring our homegirl Jenny Yang.

Since Bill O'Reilly sent Watters to Chinatown to have some "gentle fun" (also known as racist fuckery) with Chinese Americans, Fusion Comedy sent Jenny to Beverly Hills to have some "gentle fun" with white people.

Check it out:

Angry Reader of the Week: Perlina Lau

"I get over excited about Halloween and then regret sinks in when I have to make the costume."



Hello, internet! You know what time it is. It's time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. All the way from New Zealand, this week's Angry Reader is Perlina Lau.

Guy calls Jesse Watters a "racist piece of shit." To his face.

Thomas ran into the Fox News correspondent on the street. So he told him what was up.



So you've seen that shitty Fox News video of Jesse Watters' racist antics in Chinatown. And you got angry, and said some angry words on the internet. But what would you do if came face to face with Jesse Watters?

That's what happened to Thomas Lai, who saw the video, got angry like the rest of us... then happened to run into Watters on the street on Thursday. Thomas seized the opportunity to cuss him out, calling Watters "a racist piece of shit" and informing him that the "Asian American community fucking hates you."

Best of all, Thomas got the encounter on video and posted it in on Facebook.

The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng rips the shit out of Fox News

"If you’re gonna be racist, at least get your stereotypes right, you ignorant sack of shit."



Soooo... you may have heard of that piece of shit segment on Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, in which unfunny asshole Jesse Watters sauntered into New York City's Chinatown to do "man-on-the-street" interviews and mock the shit out of Asians using every stereotype he could summon in his limited imagination. It's pretty infuriating.

That's why this Daily Show segment, in which correspondent Ronny Chieng rips the absolute shit out of Jesse Watters, is so incredibly satisfying to watch. Chieng tells Watters to "go fuck yourself," and advises him that if he's going to be racist, "at least get your stereotypes right, you ignorant sack of shit."

Chieng then goes to Chinatown himself to have actual conversations with local Asian Americans and seek out their actual opinions and political views on the elections. Instead of, you know, approaching every Asian as a slant-eyed punching bag for tired-ass cheap shot Karate Kid jokes.

Ken Jeong's real-life daughter guest stars on 'Dr. Ken'

Episode 203: "Dr. Ken's Banquet Snub" airs Friday, October 7 at 8:30pm on ABC



This week on Dr. Ken, Dave's got a stalker, sort of. Ken Jeong's real-life daughter Zooey plays the neighbor girl who seems to have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with Dave, and shows it in a really weird way.

Inspired by executive producer/star Ken Jeong's real life and career as a medical doctor, the multi-camera comedy Dr. Ken follows Dr. Ken Park, a physician with bad bedside manner trying to juggle medicine and being a family man to his wife and kids -- and not quite succeeding on either front.

Dr. Ken also stars the awesome Suzy Nakamura as Allison, Albert Tsai as Dave, Krista Marie Yu as Molly and Dana Lee as D.K. The cast is rounded out by Tisha Campbell Martin as Damona, Jonathan Slavin as Clark and Dave Foley as Pat.

Here's some more info about this week's episode, "Dr. Ken’s Banquet Snub":

Korean American Parents Stand Up for Their LGBTQ Children

Guest post by Clara Yoon, A Mom from Korean American Rainbow Parents (KARP)


As I help plan the first-ever Korean American LGBTQ Seminar for family members, allies and the broader immigrant community, I cannot help but wonder: which moment was it that enabled me to become the loud and proud mother of a bisexual, transgender son that I am today?

Was it when my child, at the tender age of fourteen, declared in an angry burst that he was a boy? In that moment, my husband and I felt confused, afraid and angry.

Was it when I started frantically searching for words to describe LGBTQ terminology in Korean so that I could talk to extended family about my son's new name and gender pronouns? I remember feeling frustrated and depressed about the lack of resources available.

Was it when I discovered the Dari Project's bilingual anthology of LGBTQ stories, giving me a glimpse of the barriers that Korean American LGBTQ people face in their everyday lives?

Was it when I felt heartbroken to hear of LGBTQ youths in Korea who run away from their abusive homes and schools, and of the struggles to build safe spaces to house and protect them?

Was it when I met Joanne Lee, a Korean American mom from Madison who lost her 16-year-old transgender son to depression? After her son Skylar's death, Joanne started touring U.S. cities to share his story and speak about the importance of family acceptance.

Was it when I started sobbing uncontrollably on the bus back home from Philadelphia, where I had spent a beautiful weekend with my son attending the Trans Health Conference? I had just read his Facebook post on the Orlando tragedy. He spoke of how, for the first time in his life, he felt afraid. Even so, he vowed to fight back as part of the queer community. I felt helpless as a parent, because I fully realized in that moment that I couldn't always protect my son, and that this world is still not safe for him and others in the LGBTQ community.

Fox News Airs Appallingly Racist anti-Asian Segment

By Jenn Fang. Cross-Posted from Reappropriate.


Jesse Watters interviews people in NYC's Chinatown during a segment that aired on October 3, 2016.
(Photo credit: Fox News)
This is a new low, even for Fox News.

Earlier this week, Fox's O'Reilly Factor aired a jaw-droppingly racist segment about Asian Americans as part of its “Watters' World” features. In it, Fox correspondent Jesse Watters traveled to New York City's Chinatown under the auspices of discovering what Asian American voters thought about Donald trump and the presidential election.

Rather than to approach pollsters and researchers who professionally study Asian Americans' and Pacific Islanders' political attitudes — and who released an updated report this week on AAPI opinions, showing low support among AAPIs for the Republican Party and the race-baiting of the Trump campaign — Watters instead went for a man-on-the-street approach.

Actually, correction: Jesse Watters went for a holy-crap-that's-so-racist-man-on-the-street approach. Because, why bother with investigative journalism when you can instead fill five minutes pretending to report about a growing but largely overlooked elecorate by being an offensive, annoying asshole to total strangers?

All The Asians On TV: Fall 2016 Series Premieres

Here are the new scripted shows featuring actors of Asian descent. We counted.



The new fall television season is in full swing, and as usual, we're keeping an eye on all the new Asian faces on the tube. Because we like to keep track of such things. For those keeping score, here's a rundown of actors of Asian descent who are series regulars on new scripted network, cable and streaming shows premiering on the tubes this fall (as well as as a couple of midseason debuts). We might have missed a few, but here you go.

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Donald Trump Is Seen as Helping Push Asian-Americans Into Democratic Arms: In what could be a significant realignment of political allegiance, Asian Americans are identifying as Democrats at a quicker pace than any other racial group. You can thank the Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump.

* * *
You Can't Go Home Again: On the Taiwan set of Fresh Off the Boat's season-three premiere, in which the Huangs encounter a classic immigrant dilemma: the identity crisis.

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Cultural appropriation: It's about more than pho and sombreros: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen breaks down how to move past cultural appropriation into four parts.

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Opinion: Democracy Must Be Accessible In Every Language: "At a time when voting rights are under attack in states around the country, the largest obstacle for many AAPI voters is perfectly legal. Language access is an issue that few outside the AAPI community are talking about, yet it's one that makes a critical difference in whether Asian American voters come out to cast ballots."

* * *
A Woman Dies After Childbirth, and Her Husband Asks Why: Amy Lam died less than 12 hours after giving birth at Harlem Hospital Center. Her husband, their newborn baby and 3-year-old son are grappling with her sudden, inexplicable death -- and still asking why.

* * *
An Open Letter to White Folks Who Want to Create More Projects like MAIL ORDER FAMILY: "But herein lies the problem: even if the producers had the best of intentions and they were making this for the 'right' reasons (and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that's the case), where everyone fucked up on was addressing that second question: how should you make it?

* * *
Who Tells Their Story? Hamilton has been hailed as the start of a new, less white era on Broadway, but many remain underrepresented onstage. As Asian-American actors celebrate progress, they also reveal the stark realities that prove how far theater still has to go.

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Why Broadway Needs More South Asian Actors: For actor Vishaal Reddy, the push for diversity on the stage still has a way to go.

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Ali Wong's Radical Raunch: The New Yorker profiles comedian/writer Ali Wong and her radical comedy, which includes Baby Cobra, the Netflix stand-up special she filmed while seven and a half months pregnant.

Why "Asian" Breast Cancer?

Guest Post by Stephen Christopher Liu.



Twenty-five years ago, when Susan Shinagawa was 34, she found a prominent and painful lump in her breast. Yet, the surgical oncologist denied her biopsy request, and informed her: "Susan, you’re too young to have breast cancer. You have no family history of cancer. Besides, Asian women don’t get breast cancer." But she wasn't deterred. Susan sought out a second opinion, and after undergoing a surgical biopsy, she was diagnosed with infiltrating breast cancer. Susan is a three-time breast cancer survivor, and today, she is the leading activist in advocating breast cancer awareness for Asian women.

Angry Reader of the Week: Paul Dateh

"I create, perform, and teach music."



Greetings, good people of the internet. It is time, once again, to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Paul Dateh.

Ken and Allison are now co-workers on 'Dr. Ken'

Episode 202: "Ken and Allison Share a Patient" airs Friday, September 30 at 8:30pm on ABC



This week on Dr. Ken, on her first day of work at Welltopia, Allison clashes with Ken over a patient's diagnosis.

Inspired by executive producer/star Ken Jeong's real life and career as a medical doctor, the multi-camera comedy Dr. Ken follows Dr. Ken Park, a physician with bad bedside manner trying to juggle medicine and being a family man to his wife and kids -- and not quite succeeding on either front.

Dr. Ken also stars the awesome Suzy Nakamura as Allison, Albert Tsai as Dave, Krista Marie Yu as Molly and Dana Lee as D.K. The cast is rounded out by Tisha Campbell Martin as Damona, Jonathan Slavin as Clark and Dave Foley as Pat.

Here's some more info about this week's episode, "Ken and Allison Share a Patient":

New NBC Series Makes Light of Human Trafficking and Asian Stereotypes

By Laura Sirikul. Cross-Posted from The Nerds of Color.



Move over, Fresh Off the Boat! There’s going to be a new show in town that will diminish all the progressive work you've done for Asians.

Deadline announced recently that NBC has picked up a half-hour sitcom called Mail Order Family, a comedy about a widowed single father who orders a mail order bride from the Philippines to help raise his two preteen daughters.

The series is loosely based on comedian Jackie Clarke's life -- which has already been told in an animated webseries and as a story on This American Life. Her father had his children look through a catalog for a potential wife to be mailed over from the Philippines. He bought a wife and both lived unhappily together for several years. Clarke's new stepmother not only rejected her attempts at closeness but also divorced her father after discovering he had a secret family in the Philippines. Eventually, Clarke's father abandoned his kids to be with his new family in the Philippines as well. And now her story is being turned into a comedy. Funny, right?

California Governor Signs AAPI Data Disaggregation Bill Into Law

By Jenn Fang. Cross-Posted from Reappropriate.



Following years of tireless advocacy work by AAPI advocacy groups, California has signed a critical data disaggregation bill into law.

AB1726 (also called "The AHEAD Act") was introduced before the California Legislature early this year by bill author Assemblyman Rob Bonta. Recognizing that most state and federal data generally lump all members of the nearly 50 ethnic groups that comprise the AAPI community into a single monolithic category or disaggregate by only a handful of ethnic identifiers, the bill called for the expanded disaggregation of state public health and higher education data to include at least ten more ethnic categories for AAPIs. Those new ethnic options -- which include checkboxes for those who identify as Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Fijian and Tongan -- were consistent with what is currently available via the National Census.

Meanwhile, the lack of disaggregated data renders invisible several achievement disparities -- including increased incidence of certain treatable diseases and/or reduced education access -- that disproportionately impact certain AAPI ethnic groups over others. Without the capacity to draw awareness to those inequities, no culturally- or linguistically-specific resources are devoted to addressing them.

The AHEAD Act was designed to take the first step towards helping the thousands of Asian American and Pacific Islander Californians who are currently underserved by state and federal services.

Q & A with SPA NIGHT Director Andrew Ahn

By tk Lê.'


Joe Seo in Spa Night
What comes to mind when you think of the spa? Luxury, relaxation, cleansing, discomfort, family, sex, adventure, the Korean death scrub? And while we're at it, is the spa a gay thing, a Korean thing, or a Korean American thing? For Andrew Ahn, the director of Spa Night, it is all of the things, all at the same time. It's a place where the main character, David Cho, bonds with his family, keeps his parents safe, and explores his sexuality.

I sat with Andrew Ahn to chat about Koreatown, queerness, and the pitfalls of authenticity. The interview has been edited for clarity. [Warning! This interview is full of spoilers.]

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His brother was murdered for wearing a turban after 9/11. Last week, he spoke to the killer. Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot in front of his gas station on September 15, 2001 -- a victim of hate violence, four days after the 9/11 attacks. Fifteen years later, Rana Sodhi talked to his brother's killer.

Rose Pak, a Brash Force for San Francisco's Chinatown, Dies at 68: Rose Pak, a combative and influential San Francisco Chinatown community organizer focused on Asian American representation in local politics, passed away last week.

The untold stories of Japanese war brides: Kathryn Tolbert, the co-director of the film Fall Seven Times, Get Up Eight: The Japanese War Brides, remembers her mother and other Japanese women who married American G.I.s in the aftermath of WWII.

Hollywood Under Pressure to Put More Chinese Actors in the Spotlight: Chinese moviegoers are on to you, Hollywood. China's audiences cheer Chinese performers who secure meaningful roles, but cameos tend to fall flat as "flower vases."

"Flower Drum Song," Whitewashing, and Operation Wetback: A Message from 1961: A big-budget Hollywood film with a nearly all Asian American cast, set in Chinatown? With a plot that contains a veiled critique of racist immigration policies? It seems like a dream. But once there was such a film, a lighthearted, fluffy musical called Flower Drum Song.

Director Wayne Wang On 'Chan Is Missing' And The Lack Of Asian-Americans On Screen: In 1982, just two years before the release of Sixteen Candles, Wayne Wang released his groundbreaking feature Chan Is Missing -- a feature film conceived to shatter stereotypes.

Creating the Chinese Superman Was "Fraught with Landmines": Gene Luen Yang says his ongoing DC superhero comic, New Super-Man is about freedom, religion, and self-control.

Gene Luen Yang wins a MacArthur grant 'out of left field, but in the best way': Gene Luen Yang on his recent MacArthur Fellowship award, and his work as a graphic novelist and cartoonist.

Deportations of Southeast Asian Americans: A Glaring Human Rights Issue in an Unjust Immigration System

Guest Post by Mia-lia Boua Kiernan and Chanida Phaengdara Potter


Organizers in Tacoma. (Photo by Sahra Vang Nguyen)
Last week, war veterans, mothers, fathers, family, friends, and children held signs of pleas to stop deportations of their loved ones. Organized by family members of those detained, and supported by a coalition of API advocacy organizations, people lined the streets of Minneapolis outside Senator Amy Klobuchar's office to demand justice after almost a dozen Cambodian Minnesotans were detained for deportation. This isn't solely in the Cambodian community. Just last year, the story of Lao American DJ Teace aka Thisaphone Sothiphakhak was in the Minneapolis City Pages. "That's the most frustrating feeling. I went through the court system, and literally something 18 years ago came back and made me feel like I was less than human."

What is American Music?

Guest Post by Andrew Choi



A number of years ago I had a friend inform me that Asian people had no musical history in America, and as such there was nothing particularly Asian about American music culture. This was stated rather matter-of-factly to me, and actually, the sentiment is not uncommon. It gets bandied about in one form or another, either explicitly or by inference, when people talk about American music. American music genres are predominantly characterized by way of musical history, and that musical history is characterized by way of musical icons. Those American musical icons are then neatly segregated by race. Asians are not represented in American musical history by musical icons, ergo, Asians are not a part of distinctively American music culture. Of course, Asian people are welcome to make music in America, but it's not the same thing as being able to "authentically" draw on American historical cultural heritage in the way that others can (or so I am often told). And some version of this story is repeated in casual conversation, by both cultural conservatives and cultural progressives alike.

Of course this makes you wonder. In a society where even cultural progressives are willing to racially segregate musical culture and genres so readily, and where American music is casually defined by way of American history, what room could there be to write authentic American music as an Asian-American, or for that matter as any kind of person who has not yet "earned" their history in America?

Day in the Life of Bruce Lee: Do You Know Bruce? Part 3

Opens October 1, 2016 at The Wing Luke Museum in Seattle



Bruce fans! Check it. Next week, the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle will open the third year of the Do You Know Bruce? exhibition series -- a unique look at the life, career and philosophy of Bruce Lee. Developed in partnership with Bruce Lee's wife and daughter and the Bruce Lee Foundation, it's the only interactive exhibition, outside of Hong Kong, about the influential martial arts superstar.

Featuring personal family items and memorabilia, Do You Know Bruce? gives both an intimate and wide angle approach to detailing Lee's personal philosophy as well as the external influences and circumstances that helped shaped his journey from a young student in Seattle to a global icon who continues to inspire millions.

Part 3 of the exhibition, opening October 1, is themed "Day in the Life of Bruce Lee" and explores what it took to become "Bruce Lee." You'll get a glimpse of how Bruce Lee approached his every day -- from his personal habits, routines, and work out strategies to his written and visual art, reading, and time with family and friends -- and find your own inspiration and approach to honestly and authentically expressing yourself.

Here are some details on the exhibition's opening day activities:

Angry Reader of the Week: Suzy Nakamura

"Being from Chicago not only defines where I'm from, but who I am as a person and an artist."


Little Suzy and her big bro.
Hello, internet friends. Gather 'round, because it's time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Suzy Nakamura.