By Ed Diokno
Steve Harvey, your racism is showing.
The popular television host made fun of Asian men on the Steve Harvey Show last Friday, reinforcing the negative stereotype that portrays Asian males as unattractive.
Being an Asian man, this hit close to home because I’ve had to live with this belief all my life.
Harvey was mocking self-help books when he came across a 2002 title How to Date A White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men. Instead of making fun of the questionable book’s content, he targeted Asian men. He found it laughable that a White woman could ever find Asian men attractive.
“That’s one page, too!” he laughed at his own joke. “Excuse me, do you like Asian men? No. Thank you.”
He was on a roll and he couldn’t stop, saying that Black women couldn’t possibly be attracted to Asian men, either. How to Date a Black Woman: A Practical Guide to Asian Men, he says. “Same thing. You like Asian men? I don’t even like Chinese food. It don’t stay with you no time … I don’t eat what I can’t pronounce.”
Harvey – in the Chris Rock mode – apparently feels it is OK to make Asians the butt of racist jokes even as they talk about increasing diversity in the entertainment industry. His segment drew angry reactions on social media.
“It’s unfortunate when those with a public platform like Steve Harvey use that platform to mock and ridicule entire groups of people and in this particular case, to perpetuate negative and harmful racial stereotypes about Asian Americans,” Karin Wang, V.P. of Programs and Communications at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told Page Six. “We are disappointed in Steve Harvey.”
Several media outlets unsuccessfully tried to get a response from Harvey’s spokesperson.
Harvey is scheduled to host the Miss Universe pageant on January 30 in the Philippines, home of the current Miss Universe, Pia Wurtzbach.
The popular television host made fun of Asian men on the Steve Harvey Show last Friday, reinforcing the negative stereotype that portrays Asian males as unattractive.
Being an Asian man, this hit close to home because I’ve had to live with this belief all my life.
Harvey was mocking self-help books when he came across a 2002 title How to Date A White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men. Instead of making fun of the questionable book’s content, he targeted Asian men. He found it laughable that a White woman could ever find Asian men attractive.
“That’s one page, too!” he laughed at his own joke. “Excuse me, do you like Asian men? No. Thank you.”
He was on a roll and he couldn’t stop, saying that Black women couldn’t possibly be attracted to Asian men, either. How to Date a Black Woman: A Practical Guide to Asian Men, he says. “Same thing. You like Asian men? I don’t even like Chinese food. It don’t stay with you no time … I don’t eat what I can’t pronounce.”
Harvey – in the Chris Rock mode – apparently feels it is OK to make Asians the butt of racist jokes even as they talk about increasing diversity in the entertainment industry. His segment drew angry reactions on social media.
“It’s unfortunate when those with a public platform like Steve Harvey use that platform to mock and ridicule entire groups of people and in this particular case, to perpetuate negative and harmful racial stereotypes about Asian Americans,” Karin Wang, V.P. of Programs and Communications at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told Page Six. “We are disappointed in Steve Harvey.”
Several media outlets unsuccessfully tried to get a response from Harvey’s spokesperson.
Harvey is scheduled to host the Miss Universe pageant on January 30 in the Philippines, home of the current Miss Universe, Pia Wurtzbach.
RELATED: Harvey’s gaff mars new Miss Universe from the Philippines
While in the Philippines, someone should warn Harvey that Philippines President Rod Duterte, whom some call the Trump of the Philippines, is sensitive to what he perceives as slights or insults. He called President Barack Obama a “son of a whore,” when Obama questioned the extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers, a practice endorsed and encouraged by Duterte.
Ed Diokno writes a blog :Views From The Edge: news and analysis from an Asian American perspective.
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