By Ed Diokno
Asian Americans had their moments in the spotlight at the American Music Awards Sunday as presenters and award recipients.
Teen-heartthrob Zayn Malik was named New Artist of the Year for his first solo album after leaving the popular boy group One Direction. He gave special thanks to his Pakistani father when he received the award.
“Standing here is crazy. My mom, my dad, everybody in my family that’s been supporting me the past year, especially my dad. Thank you, Dad. Also, big thank you to you guys. I didn’t expect anybody to still vote for me. So thank you, and I”ll put it on my fireplace.” In his album he included a song in which he sang some of the lyrics in Urdu, his father’s native language.
Olivia Munn with Silicon Valley’s T.J. Miller presented the award to Tim McGraw for Favorite Country Singer. As they introduced the singer, they did a hilarious bit mocking award show presenters.
The Chinese American actress also got some attention she didn’t necessarily want when most fashionistas put her on their lists of “worst dressed” celebrities wearing a Reem Acra floral ensemble. Apparently, Munn broke a fashion rule, wearing a mini, showing off a lot of leg, and also showed a lot of cleavage. In the fashion world, the rule is one or the other, but not both. (I don’t make the rules.)
Chrissy Teigen’s risqué dress.
On the other end of fashion spectrum was Chrissy Teigen, who wore a floor-length black dress with a slit that was dangerously high, confirming that the Thai American model was not wearing underwear. At least one photographer caught the wardrobe malfunction as Teigen walked the Red Carpet.
A wave of tweets criticized her and she responded as only Teigen can: “I was walking. It floated. It’s over. I can’t take it back. Here is a formal apology. What else would you like?”
Teigen, who’s been known to speak her mind, introduced her husband, John Legend, but couldn’t help but turn the introduction into a political statement.
“What can I say? I’m very inspiring,” she said, according to Billboard, continuing, “but his songs are bigger than either of us and on the heels of what’s been a really interesting interesting f**ked up election for all of us, I think we could all use a little love tonight.” The awards show censors blocked her statement at “interesting” leaving the home audience wondering what she said.
She didn’t apologize for the introduction.
Bruno Mars, the Filipino American R&B singer from Hawaii, got the American Music Awards off to a rousing start with his performance of his hit “24K Magic,” highlighted by his electrifying choreography, a combination of James Brown, Michael Jackson and a healthy dose of Jaberwockeez. the Asian American dance team.
RELATED: Bruno Mars Featured on both 60 Minutes and American Music Awards
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