If the Oscars were all about diversity, why the crude Asian joke?

[longassessay]

 

 

It seemed we were talking about diversity about every five minutes at the Oscars.

Chris Rock opened his monologue by saying he’d never be the host if he had to be nominated for the job. We all got the joke â€” Chris Rock is black, and for the second year in the row, not a single actor nominated for an Oscar was black.

But they also weren’t Asian or Latino. Representation is a problem in Hollywood for all minorities, but all night long, the show’s jokes focused almost entirely on the problem as it pertains to black people.

During a sketch in which Rock altered top movies to include actors of color, he chose Whoopi Goldberg, Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan. Stacey Dash wished everyone a happy Black History Month. Kevin Hart joked, wasn’t it about time they put him in the front row?

There was a lack of diversity in the lack of diversity. This became most apparent when Rock brought three Asian children to the stage, posing as “bankers†from finance firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“They sent us their most dedicated, accurate and hard working representatives,†he said. “Please welcome Ming Zhu, Bao Ling and David Moskowitz.â€

 

 

 

“If anybody’s upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids,†he continued.

And many people were upset, because the only mention of Asians was a stereotype about their smarts and a light-hearted reference to child labor.

 

 

 

There was even less attention on Hispanic actors, who are twice as under-represented as black actors at the Oscars, as Washington Post writer Dan Zak pointed out in this examination of why diversity is complicated in Hollywood.

Over the past 30 years, there were 17 nominated performances by Hispanics — if you include foreign film stars such as Demián Bichir (Mexico) and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Colombia) â€” and that’s way out of step with the general population trend of the United States:

 

Alejandro Iñárritu summarized the way many audience members were feeling when he took the stage to accept his Best Director award.  Iñárritu, who became the first director to win two years in a row since 1950, said now is the time to make sure there is so much diversity, it no longer matters.

 

“What a great opportunity to our generation, to really liberate yourself from all prejudice and this tribal thinking and make sure for once and forever that the color of skin becomes as irrelevant as the length of our hair.â€

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/02/29/the-oscars-were-all-about-diversity-but-people-hated-that-asian-joke/

 

you can watch video at the source

[jeong jaehyuns boyfriend]

those kids are adorable, but i feel like bringing them on stage like that is detracting from the point and quite frankly, looks like a cheap gimmick to get attention.

 

if they wanted to make a message about diversity, they should have brought on stage an asian kid, a black kid, a hispanic kid, and a white kid, all holding hands. 

 

just bringing up three asian kids like that, despite being super cute, makes it seem as if theyre pets or foreign animals or something.

[DocumentaLy]

Because let's be real, nobody cares about Latinos or Asians. They haven't had enough of an impact on American culture to truly matter. Even racism in the US is framed as a black v. white thing. Asians and Latinos are just on the sidelines of that big, main issue.

[breadstal2]

All jokes were so lame, the worst host they could ever bring. Bringing issue of lack of diversity is all cool (even if it was only for black actors) but not every fucking time, the worst part; they were not even funny.

[ESSON]

Does this Oscar awards rly matter that much

[sane]

99% of the time in the US "diversity" means black people.

[noon]

ive been meaning to say it for a while but why is it that whenever some agency or whatever (whether it be buzzfeed, mtv, the oscars, snl, etc) takes a shot at racism, it's always done in a cheap way? sort of like "ahh look ,we know racism exists, now let's poke fun at it in the most bland, uncreative way, just to show you that we understand racism is bad but really we dont care enough to actually talk about it."

 

like the prevalence of white people jokes/jokes on racism these days comes off less like an actually call to understanding of the matter but more like a way to cheaply appease people who just want even the smallest something to be said...

[DocumentaLy]

All jokes were so lame, the worst host they could ever bring. Bringing issue of lack of diversity is all cool (even if it was only for black actors) but not every fucking time, the worst part; they were not even funny.

 

They probably kept bringing it up because it's garnered more attention than anything nominated.

[breadstal2]

They probably kept bringing it up because it's garnered more attention than anything nominated.

Beside Leo, you're right imo it was big deal, some probably wanted to keep this alive but looking at Twitter the ones who trends rn are actors and movies anyway.

[YNRA]

it was really a dumb distasteful joke, chris rock was the worst host ive seen for an awards show 

[DocumentaLy]

Beside Leo, you're right imo it was big deal, some probably wanted to keep this alive but looking at Twitter the ones who trends rn are actors and movies anyway.

 

Honestly, I heard more about #OscarsSoWhite than Leo. People are talking about the winners tonight because the show just happened. But in the run up to the show, and probably in a few days, the lack of diversity was and will still be the main issue.

[Ta77]

Because let's be real, nobody cares about Latinos or Asians. They haven't had enough of an impact on American culture to truly matter. Even racism in the US is framed as a black v. white thing. Asians and Latinos are just on the sidelines of that big, main issue.

 

wow...aren't you frank

[Oltre Luna]

Because people are hypocrites

[kw_]

Well now that Leo won an award I can stop watching that mess show

[ToujoursSistar]

I didn't like these jokes at all but asians latinos etc ... have to speak up for themselves. it's like they're waiting for black ppl to do it .

[DocumentaLy]

wow...aren't you frank

 

I don't feel a need to beat around the bush.

 

Like if Trump went on about black people the way he did about Latinos or Muslims, there would be a much, much bigger backlash. Why? Because black people are pretty much the only POC in the US to stand up for themselves.

 

 

 

I didn't like these jokes at all but asians latinos etc ... have to speak up for themselves. it's like they're waiting for black ppl to do it .

 

It's always interesting how non-black POC feel as if black people need to do something for them simply because they got most of their rights due to the civil rights movement, which was largely black people fighting for black rights. The other races benefited from this so it feels as if they are just waiting for black people to do more things so that they can reap the benefits again. Instead, they need to focus on doing things for themselves, because it's not as if our issues are all the same simply because we are non-white. Like immigration isn't really a black issue, just how police brutality isn't really an Asian issue.

[......]

I didn't like these jokes at all but asians latinos etc ... have to speak up for themselves. it's like they're waiting for black ppl to do it .

 

Genuinely didn't expect anyone to make this comment... but it's the only comment necessary.

 

Whenever black people organise and rally... it seems like other people of colour (and white people) are always quick to imply that black people are more privileged because we get the focus where other poc do not... but i mean... it's BECAUSE we organise and rally and fight. We subject ourselves to anti-movements and ridicule because we put ourselves out there and demand shit.

 

 #OscarsSoWhite was a black twitter hashtag. Sure, bigger picture is lack of diversity across the board...but the movement that sparked all the media attention on the topic....was a black movement. Thus the emphasis on black hollywood.

 

If other poc want more representation in society, they need to do their own things. Create a movement. Take over social media. Boycott. Create your own things if you have to... Black people aren't going to do it for you or even feel obligated to share attention... because nobody does it for us...and  sharing movements tends to leave us with the shit end of the stick...doesn't mean we can't stand in solidarity over each other's movements...but other poc need to stand and take their own steps first.

[Ta77]

I don't feel a need to beat around the bush.

 

Like if Trump went on about black people the way he did about Latinos or Muslims, there would be a much, much bigger backlash. Why? Because black people are pretty much the only POC in the US to stand up for themselves.

 

 

 

 

It's always interesting how non-black POC feel as if black people need to do something for them simply because they got most of their rights due to the civil rights movement, which was largely black people fighting for black rights. The other races benefited from this so it feels as if they are just waiting for black people to do more things so that they can reap the benefits again. Instead, they need to focus on doing things for themselves, because it's not as if our issues are all the same simply because we are non-white. Like immigration isn't really a black issue, just how police brutality isn't really an Asian issue.

 

I can't really argue with anything here, however, I also think that white people don't view other people of color like they view blacks. Nothing is racist unless it involves a black person, those jokes at the Oscars involving those Asian kids wouldn't be the same if it were black kids...People would have been livid.

[dishdash]

Genuinely didn't expect anyone to make this comment... but it's the only comment necessary.

Whenever black people organise and rally... it seems like other people of colour (and white people) are always quick to imply that black people are more privileged because we get the focus where other poc do not... but i mean... it's BECAUSE we organise and rally and fight. We subject ourselves to anti-movements and ridicule because we put ourselves out there and demand shit.

 

 #OscarsSoWhite was a black twitter hashtag. Sure, bigger picture is lack of diversity across the board...but the movement that sparked all the media attention on the topic....was a black movement. Thus the emphasis on black hollywood.

If other poc want more representation in society, they need to do their own things. Create a movement. Take over social media. Boycott. Create your own things if you have to... Black people aren't going to do it for you or even feel obligated to share attention... because nobody did it/does it for us...and  sharing movements tends to leave us with the shit end of the stick...doesn't mean we can't stand in solidarity over each other's movements...but other poc need to stand and take their own steps first.

This so fucking much. Literally could not have said it better myself

[Wobble]

Because let's be real, nobody cares about Latinos or Asians. They haven't had enough of an impact on American culture to truly matter. Even racism in the US is framed as a black v. white thing. Asians and Latinos are just on the sidelines of that big, main issue.

I mean Asians tend to align themselves with white people as do Latinos once they reach a certain socioeconomic status. It's very hard to create a voice for yourself and complain about injustice when so many of your racial peers are trying to assimilate.

[DocumentaLy]

I can't really argue with anything here, however, I also think that white people don't view other people of color like they view blacks. Nothing is racist unless it involves a black person, those jokes at the Oscars involving those Asian kids wouldn't be the same if it were black kids...People would have been livid.

 

Why? Because the other races are on the sidelines.

[DocumentaLy]

I mean Asians tend to align themselves with white people as do Latinos once they reach a certain socioeconomic status. It's very hard to create a voice for yourself and complain about injustice when so many of your racial peers are trying to assimilate.

 

That's on them. They can't try to assimilate like that and then complain because blacks don't want to speak up for them. They need to speak for themselves. I would even go so far as to say that they need to forge an identify for themselves outside of trying to assimilate into whiteness. It all seems so... lost to me.

[Almondandlime]

Didn't one of the award recipients make a joke about little yellow people with small dongs and then play it off as the minions?

[Mischo]

I didn't like these jokes at all but asians latinos etc ... have to speak up for themselves. it's like they're waiting for black ppl to do it .

  

I don't feel a need to beat around the bush.

 

Like if Trump went on about black people the way he did about Latinos or Muslims, there would be a much, much bigger backlash. Why? Because black people are pretty much the only POC in the US to stand up for themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

It's always interesting how non-black POC feel as if black people need to do something for them simply because they got most of their rights due to the civil rights movement, which was largely black people fighting for black rights. The other races benefited from this so it feels as if they are just waiting for black people to do more things so that they can reap the benefits again. Instead, they need to focus on doing things for themselves, because it's not as if our issues are all the same simply because we are non-white. Like immigration isn't really a black issue, just how police brutality isn't really an Asian issue.

  

Genuinely didn't expect anyone to make this comment... but it's the only comment necessary.

Whenever black people organise and rally... it seems like other people of colour (and white people) are always quick to imply that black people are more privileged because we get the focus where other poc do not... but i mean... it's BECAUSE we organise and rally and fight. We subject ourselves to anti-movements and ridicule because we put ourselves out there and demand shit.

 

 #OscarsSoWhite was a black twitter hashtag. Sure, bigger picture is lack of diversity across the board...but the movement that sparked all the media attention on the topic....was a black movement. Thus the emphasis on black hollywood.

If other poc want more representation in society, they need to do their own things. Create a movement. Take over social media. Boycott. Create your own things if you have to... Black people aren't going to do it for you or even feel obligated to share attention... because nobody does it for us...and  sharing movements tends to leave us with the shit end of the stick...doesn't mean we can't stand in solidarity over each other's movements...but other poc need to stand and take their own steps first.

I agree with these posts

[Coffeeeee]

I didn't like these jokes at all but asians latinos etc ... have to speak up for themselves. it's like they're waiting for black ppl to do it .

 

 

I don't feel a need to beat around the bush.

 

Like if Trump went on about black people the way he did about Latinos or Muslims, there would be a much, much bigger backlash. Why? Because black people are pretty much the only POC in the US to stand up for themselves.

 

 

 

 

It's always interesting how non-black POC feel as if black people need to do something for them simply because they got most of their rights due to the civil rights movement, which was largely black people fighting for black rights. The other races benefited from this so it feels as if they are just waiting for black people to do more things so that they can reap the benefits again. Instead, they need to focus on doing things for themselves, because it's not as if our issues are all the same simply because we are non-white. Like immigration isn't really a black issue, just how police brutality isn't really an Asian issue.

 

 

Genuinely didn't expect anyone to make this comment... but it's the only comment necessary.

 

Whenever black people organise and rally... it seems like other people of colour (and white people) are always quick to imply that black people are more privileged because we get the focus where other poc do not... but i mean... it's BECAUSE we organise and rally and fight. We subject ourselves to anti-movements and ridicule because we put ourselves out there and demand shit.

 

 #OscarsSoWhite was a black twitter hashtag. Sure, bigger picture is lack of diversity across the board...but the movement that sparked all the media attention on the topic....was a black movement. Thus the emphasis on black hollywood.

 

If other poc want more representation in society, they need to do their own things. Create a movement. Take over social media. Boycott. Create your own things if you have to... Black people aren't going to do it for you or even feel obligated to share attention... because nobody does it for us...and  sharing movements tends to leave us with the shit end of the stick...doesn't mean we can't stand in solidarity over each other's movements...but other poc need to stand and take their own steps first.

I agree, I also think another thing that plays into this part is the asian culture who what most asian countries share where were always taught to be mindful about others and try not to make too much commotion and be a bother/burden, which definitely sucks for the following generations of asians who has a more westernized upbringing that do try to speak up

 

its been talked about somewhat in this vid @ 3:00 and 6:55 onwards