Watch Hasan Minhaj's full speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Maybe you've heard: Donald Trump has a contentious relationship with the press. So it's no surprise that the orange chickenshit did not attend Saturday's annual White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington DC. However, host Hasan Minhaj was on hand to say what sorely needed to said, and he did not pull any punches.
"I would say it is an honor to be here, but that would be an alternative fact," Minhaj joked. "It is not. No one wanted to do this. So of course, it lands in the hands of an immigrant. That's how it always goes down."
The Daily Show correspondent took shots at everyone from Bill O'Reilly to Sean Spicker to CNN. And of course, Donald Trump. He also stressed the importance of free speech, the First Amendment, and the crucial role of the press in upholding the ideals of democracy. Minhaj also acknowledged that it was weird and amazing for him, a brown kid to be standing up there talking shit about the president, live on C-SPAN.
"Only in America can a first generation Indian American Muslim kid get on this stage and make fun of the president," Minhaj said. "The Orange Man behind the Muslim ban."
Strangers In Town: Twenty-five years after Los Angeles rose up, how far have we come as a nation? Ten stories about the L.A. riots and the world they made, including Inkoo Kang, who shares about growing up in Koreatown and watching it burn.
Reflecting on April 30th: "April 30th was never about winning or losing a war for me. It has been about unwarranted loss of lives, hopes, and dreams. Sometimes I'm expected to embrace or condemn the Vietnamese or Americans that partook on either sides. I don't. Instead, I live firmly in a world where I never wish war on anyone, and I do whatever I can to prevent such atrocities for others."
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George Takei: Internment, America's Great Mistake: Every year since the late 1960s, on the last Saturday in April, there has been a pilgrimage to a place called Manzanar in California, where one of ten United States internment camps once stood.
Why Is Asian Salad Still on the Menu?: You've seen it. Maybe you've even ordered it. But why is Asian salad, and all its other names, still on the menu?
"I aim to tell the truth, in my books and in my life."
Hello, good people of the internet! You know what time it is. It is 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 Jenny Han.
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 recently launched podcast They Call Us Bruce. 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.
This week, on the eve of the 33rd Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, we discuss the state of independent Asian American cinema, the significance of films like Better Luck Tomorrow, and why it's still so hard for Asian American films to break through.
HBO presents the winners of the Asian Pacific American Visionaries short film competition.
The winners of HBO's first Asian Pacific American Visionaries short film competition will receive their world premiere screenings with an exclusive event at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
The winning filmmakers are Dinh Thai (first place, Monday), Tiffanie Hsu (second place, Wonderland), Jingyi Shao (third place, Toenail).
Exploring a range of topical issues facing the modern APA experience, the shorts offer a bold and uncompromising look at such controversial subject matter as crime, addiction and family turmoil. A panel discussion with the directors, led by Silicon Valley star Jimmy O. Yang, will immediately follow the screening.
It's happening Friday, April 27 in the Tateuchi Democracy Forum at the Japanese American National Museum. Here are some more details about the screening:
Filming has begun on Warner Bros.' adaptation of Kevin Kwan's bestselling book.
More Crazy Rich Asians casting news.... Rapper/actress Awkwafina joins the likes of Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan and Michelle Yeoh in Warner Bros' adaptation of Kevin Kwan's bestselling novel.
Crazy Rich Asians follows Rachel Chu, an American-born Chinese economics professor who travels to her boyfriend Nick's hometown of Singapore for his best friend's wedding, only to discover that Nick is heir to a massive fortune, he's perhaps he most eligible bachelor in Asia, and every single woman in his ultra-rarefied social class is incredibly jealous of Rachel and wants to bring her down.
Awkwafina will play Peik Lin, Rachel's college friend.
Mazzy shows you the most legit and delicious recipes on "Cooking with Mazzy."
The only person on the internet (other than an Asian auntie or grandma) I trust to teach me how to cook Asian food is a little adorable toddler named Mazzy who is the star of her own (parent-produced) YouTube cooking show, "Cooking with Mazzy."
Dr. Vivek Murthy was asked to resign, then dismissed.
The Trump Administration has dismissed U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy from his post as the nation's top doctor. He was temporarily replaced by his deputy, Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams.
Murthy, who was appointed by former President Obama, announced on Friday that he had been dismissed.
"While I had hoped to do more to help our nation tackle its biggest health challenges, I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to have served," Murthy wrote in the Facebook post announcing his departure.
"For the grandson of a poor farmer from India to be asked by the president to look out for the health of an entire nation was a humbling and uniquely American story," Murthy continued. "I will always be grateful to our country for welcoming my immigrant family nearly 40 years ago and giving me this opportunity to serve."
To Swim is to Endure: On Living with Chronic Pain: For years, writer and journalist Melissa Hung has been living with a painful, chronic headache. Here, she talks about how swimming helps to manage her symptoms.
"The joke amongst my friends is that my "brand" is Emotional Lesbians, which I am totally okay with."
Hello, 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 Irene Koh.
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 recently launched podcast They Call Us Bruce. 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.
This week, we introduced what we hope will be regular segment: They Ask Us Qs, in which we respond to listener-submitted questions. In this inaugural edition, we enlist the help of comedian/famous mom Amy Anderson, who talks about being a Korean American adoptee, and former Survivor contestant Shii Ann Huang, who helps us decipher the good, bad and WTF of Asians on reality television. Listen here:
East West Players and JACCC will present the Los Angeles premiere of the Broadway musical in 2018.
Allegiance is coming to Los Angeles next year. East West Players and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center will present the Los Angeles premiere of the Broadway musical Allegiance, with performances at JACCC's Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo. from February 21 to April 1, 2018. Previews will run from February 21-25, with the Opening Night performance and reception on February 28.
With music and lyrics by Jay Kuo and a book by Marc Acito, Kuo, and Lorenzo Thione, Allegiance is inspired by the true childhood experiences of actor, activist and social media icon George Takei. The original Broadway production played on Broadway from 2015-16 at the Longacre Theatre in New York City.
Allegiance tells the story of the Kimura family, whose lives are upended when they and 120,000 other Japanese Americans are forced to leave their homes following the events of Pearl Harbor. Sam Kimura seeks to prove his patriotism by fighting for his country in the war, but his sister, Kei, fiercely protests the government's treatment of her people. An uplifting testament to the power of the human spirit, Allegiance follows the Kimuras as they fight between duty and defiance, custom and change, family bonds and forbidden loves.
Presented by Visual Communications, April 27 - May 4
Los Angeles film fans, it's on. Make some plans and get down with community for the 33rd Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, running April 27 to May 4. Presented by Visual Communications, with eight days of screenings, panels and events, LAAPFF is the largest festival of its kind in Southern California and the premier showcase for the best and brightest of Asian Pacific American and international cinema.
This year's festival kicks off with the Opening Night intro/retrospective 15th anniversary screening of Justin Lin's landmark film Better Luck Tomorrow. Justin Chon's Sundance award-winning feature Gook serves as LAAPFF's Centerpiece highlight as part of the festival's 25th anniversary commemoration of the Los Angles Uprising. The festival rounds with the Closing Night Gala presentation of Kogonada's debut feature Columbus, starring leading man John Cho.
Harkirat Singh was assaulted by drunken passengers who called him racial slurs and ripped off his turban.
Harkirat Singh (Photo Credit: New York Daily News)
In New York, a Sikh taxi driver was assaulted by a group of drunken passengers who called him racial slurs and ripped his turban off his head. Police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. (No shit.)
25-year-old Harkirat Singh, who wears a turban and unshorn beard in observance of his Sikh faith, was driving a woman and three men in their early 20s from Madison Square Garden to the Bronx early Sunday morning when the passengers began to physically assault him and rip off his turban.
Asian Americans used to be portrayed as the villains. How did they become a 'model minority'? When Asian immigrants first came to America en masse in the mid-1800s, the popular media often portrayed them as scoundrels, degenerates, and job-stealers. But some time after World War II, public opinion shifted. This video traces the history of the model minority stereotype and what it means to Asian Americans today.
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The Model Minority in the Age of Trump: Unfortunately, last week's United debacle is not new, but part of a growing pattern of state and corporate violence against people of color.
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I Am Miss Saigon, and I Hate It: "It's not just that the hit musical doesn't tell my family's story. It's that it perpetuates a narrative in which the Vietnamese are victims, not fighters."
Why Riz Ahmed should be the first Muslim James Bond: City of Tiny Lights, in which Riz Ahmed plays a low-level private investigator pursuing a murderous villain, shows why the actor/emcee should be the new 007. GQ makes the case.
Sunday, April 23 at the San Diego Asian Film Festival's Spring Showcase
San Diego film fans! As part of Pacific Arts Movement's 7th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase, you are invited to Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017, a series of documentaries and short films highlighting those who spoke up against Executive Order 9066 and those who spoke up against the post-9/11 treatment of Muslim Americans, as well as those of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent today.
Right to Resist will screen Sunday, April 23 at Ultra Star Mission Valley Cinemas-Hazard Center. Admission is free for ages 17 and under. Here are some more details about the program:
"Asian Americans face endless challenges -- so hopefully we can meet those together rather than alone."
Hey, folks! You know what time it is. 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 Kent Lee.
Newcomer will play Rose, a Resistance mechanic in 'The Last Jedi.'
At long last! We get a first official look at Kelly Marie Tran in Star Wars: The Last Jedi!
On Friday, at this year's Star Wars Celebration gathering in Orlando, fans met Ms. Tran along with the rest of the Last Jedi stars and got some basic details about the newcomer's character in the highly-anticipated next installment of the Star Wars saga -- and she apparently has the "biggest new part" in Episode VIII.
"My character's name is Rose," Tran revealed during Friday's Last Jedi panel. "She's part of the Resistance, and she works in maintenance. I can't wait for you to meet her."
Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.
Greetings, podcast listeners! We are back with Episode 4 of our recently launched podcast They Call Us Bruce. 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.
This week, we welcomed Lilan Bowden, who plays Bex on the new Disney Channel series Andi Mack. We talk about the show's refreshing, un-Disney-like take on family, and why it's important to see yourself represented onscreen. And my choice for "Bad" kid's TV show is controversial. Listen here:
United Airlines forced a "randomly selected" passenger to give up his seat. It did not end well.
Let me get this straight. United Airlines overbooks a flight, and in an attempt to make room for some airline employees, they start picking random people to boot off the flight. And that's how we got these horrifying videos of an Asian man being violently wrenched from his seat, knocked unconscious and dragged off the plane.
On Sunday evening, passengers on United flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville had already boarded when the airline asked for volunteers to take another flight the next day to make room for four United staff members who needed seats. Big surprise, they got no takers. The airline offered $400 and a free hotel, then upped the offer to $800, but still, nobody wanted off. That's when they went ahead and just selected four passengers to eject from the flight -- including the soon-to-knocked unconscious 69-year-old man.
An airline representative told him he had been "randomly" selected to be taken off the flight. The man refused to give up his seat, saying he was a doctor and was scheduled to see patients the next day. He was insistent that would not get off the plane and, according to one witness, called his lawyer. The passenger was also heard saying he was being singled out for removal because he was Chinese.
That's when United called the cops.
Witnesses say the man began screaming when three law enforcement officers wrestled him out of seat. During the struggle, the man's face apparently struck an armrest and he was knocked unconscious. Video taken by passengers shows the man limp and bleeding from the mouth as officers dragged him down the aisle.
Several of videos taken during the incident were posted and shared on social media:
