If the Oscars were all about diversity, why the crude Asian joke?
華盛頓郵報
By Jessica Contrera February 29 at 12:12 AM
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 — 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.
[The Oscars proved that Asians still aren’t taken seriously in pop culture]
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.”
“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.
Justin Chang ✔ @JustinCChang
Think my brain shut down for a few minutes. Did that appalling joke about Asian kids actually happen? #Oscars
10:01 PM - 28 Feb 2016