By Louis Chan
AsAmNews National Correspondent
A reporter at KRON-TV in San Francisco is facing intense criticism for posting video of an Asian American family eating at an In & Out with chopsticks.
Stanley Roberts is best known in the city for airing his segment People Behaving Badly.
He catches people doing bad things and shames them on TV. For instance, he might show someone who’s not handicapped misusing a handicap parking permit.
In this case, he posted a 30 second video of the family eating on his Facebook page.
“Never seen anyone eat with chopsticks before?” one person commented on his Facebook page.
“I can’t see anything wrong with this family,” wrote another. “The only thing I can see is how rude is this person taking video of someone! Are you happy with someone doing this to you?”
“Wow, so rude just taking a video of people trying to chill and eat some food,” wrote another. ”
Robert responded with a “get over it.”
He later explained further. “Posting things on this page does not immediately make it Behaving badly. It’s a cool video of a family eating In and Out with chopsticks. Something a guy like me from Philly has never see before. There was no hidden meaning, no sarcasm no ill will. It’s was simply a 30 second video of a family from Japan eating fries with chopsticks that I thought was hella cool.”
Many people aren’t buying it and one has started a change.org petition demanding an apology.
“As a Chinese person living in Bay Area…. I find this video very disturbing and offensive,” said Anthony Cheng, the petition organizer. “That family is just having a meal using chopsticks. Forks or chopsticks are eating utensils, nothing wrong with that. Why does Stanley Roberts think that this family is behaving badly? If I see someone eating pizza or burger with forks or knives should that be viewed as weird??? This video should be taken down immediately and we want an apology from Stanley Roberts and KRON 4 news.
It’s hard to read into someone’s motivations about why he does something. Robert posted the video with the comment “Do you notice anything unusual about these people eating at In-and-Out Burger. #prettycool.”
Maybe Roberts did think it was pretty cool.
Perhaps his viewers should all chip in and invite him out to a night in Chinatown.
Roberts has worked at KRON-TV since 1998, according to the station’s website. Before that he worked in Los Angeles. Yet, he’s never seen someone eating non-Asian food with chopsticks. Perhaps Mr. Roberts should live a little.
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