A New York Times reporter is pushing back for mistakenly tweeting “immigrants, they get the job done” in reference to Mirai Nagasu’s historic triple axel Sunday.
Nagasu was born in Montabello near Los Angeles to immigrant parents.
Her triple axel helped Team USA to win a bronze in the ice skating team competition.
According to the Huffington Post, some have lashed out at Bari Weiss for wrongly assuming Nagasu was not American born.
Weiss vigorously defended herself after deleting the offending tweet.
For this tweet I am being told I am a racist, a ghoul and that I deserve to die. So I deleted the tweet. That’s where we are.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) February 12, 2018
The stereotype of the perpetual foreigner has long plagued Asian Americans. Some feel Weiss only added to the problem.
It’s a reminder of the headline on MSNBC when Michelle Kwan was upset by Tara Lipinski at the 1998 Winter Olympics Games in Nagano, Japan.
Back then the headline read “American Beats Out Michelle Kwan.” That headline was widely condemned by Asian Americans and mainstream media.
What do you think? Does Weiss’ gaffe merit the same attention?
(Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the year Lipinski upset Kwan in Nagano)
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RE: NY Times Writer Mistakes Mirai Nagasu for an Immigrant: This headline is misleading. Weiss did it intentionally but mistakenly thought people would get her joke. ASAM needs to read their own sh*t.
RE: NY Times writer Mistakes Mirai Nagasu for an Immigrant: Although Weiss was referencing and complimenting the family, she needs to understand the perception of her article, however right or wrong it may be.
RE: NY Times writer mistakes Mirai Nagasu for an immigrant: She has also tried comparing her tweet to the Women’s March tweet about Mirai, where they refer to her as “daughter of immigrants, now the first American woman to land a triple axle at the Olympics”. Which…is such a completely different thing entirely than Weiss’ comment. In her original tweet, she said “Immigrants: They Get the Job Done”. A reference to the Hamilton musical, but her changing the wording from “We” to “They” creates dissonance and draws a very specific line between Weiss (a white woman) and Mirai. It implies that Mirai is an immigrant and perpetuates the stereotype that all non-white people are immigrants. It’s annoying. She just doesn’t get it.
NY Times Writer Mistakes Mirai Nagasu for an Immigrant: This is the perfect example of the news today, they report on opinion not facts, and when they get it wrong it’s not their fault. Also, NO ONE wants to stand up when they do say the wrong thing, just say it… I WAS WRONG!!!
RE: NY Times Writer Mistakes Mirai Nagasu for an immigrant Speaking of facts, Tara beat Michelle in 1998, not 1988.