Photo of Bowen Yang from YouTube screenshot via HBO.
People on Twitter called out The Hollywood Reporter for a Tweet on Friday with a caption highlighting new Saturday Night Live cast member Bowen Yang that instead featured a photo of comedian Joel Kim Booster, reports HuffPost.
The article embedded in the Tweet from June 20 contained photos of both comedians from a joint interview. In the story, Booster’s individual photo appears ahead of Yang’s.
The Tweet has been edited since, and the following apology was issued:
By the time the Tweet was fixed, screenshots of the error already made their way across Twitter, and people were not happy.
All look same. pic.twitter.com/EPcxiM75mj
— Angry Asian Man (@angryasianman) September 14, 2019
It got deleted, but screenshot.@BOWENYANG DID NOT MAKE AWARD WORTHY LIP SYNC VIDEOS FOR THIS TREATMENT.
— Cailin (@cailintweets) September 13, 2019
That’s @ihatejoelkim, FYI. He stars in NBC’s new show “Sunnyside” coming out later this month.@angryasianman @its_willyu @originalspin #RepresentationMatters WOW. pic.twitter.com/wkdRzgUdFZ
They… tweeted about Bowen Yang with a picture of Joel Kim Booster, lmao https://t.co/rfJkM7Y8Ua
— Studio Glibly (@NoTotally) September 14, 2019
The Hollywood Reporter can’t tell two Asian comedians apart but again, and I cannot stress this enough, the real victim is that white bro for being called out on his racism. https://t.co/hSCPtPMpnQ
— Courtney Enlow (@courtenlow) September 14, 2019
Yang, who built a fanbase cohosting the podcast Las Culturistas, joined SNL last season as a writer, reports NewNowNext. He previously appeared on the show as Kim Jong-un in a skit with Sandra Oh.
Joel Kim Booster tweeted out his congratulations to Yang soon after the news broke of his casting.
This is at least the second time in recent months The Hollywood Reporter has mixed up photos of Asian Americans. It did the same thing to Oscar-winning director Jessica Yu. A similar uproar ensued, but to the best of our knowledge, The Hollywood Reporter never issued an apology or response.
Representatives for Yang and Booster did not immediately respond to requests for comment from HuffPost.
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RE: The Hollywood Reporter faces Twitter backlash after photo of wrong Asian for SNL cast: They never do their homework and really don’t care to when it comes to POC. They are always saying incorrect information and posting incorrect photos. Their attitude is like ‘I don’t care and POC should be grateful we even mentioned them.’ Know this first hand when they printed incorrect information about my niece, she is a stage actress.