The popular Canadian sitcom “Kim’s Convenience” has been canceled. Its stars are now speaking out about racism in production, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Simu Liu (Jung) and Jean Yoon (Mrs. Kim) took to social media to voice their frustrations about the lack of Asian representation among production staff, unfair pay and “overtly racist” storylines.
In a lengthy Facebook post, Liu described several underlying issues on the show. Liu said he grew frustrated with Jung’s character arc and the lack of creative input he was given in later seasons.
“But it was always my understanding that the lead actors were the stewards of character, and would grow to have more creative insight as the show went on,” Liu wrote. “This was not the case on our show, which was doubly confusing because our producers were overwhelmingly white and we were a cast of Asian Canadians who had a plethora of lived experiences to draw from and offer to writers.”
Yoon also decried the lack of Asian representation in the writer’s room. She expressed her own frustrations with the show in a series of tweets defending her Liu, who had drawn criticism for his Facebook post, The Washington Post reports.
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“Dear sir, as an Asian Canadian woman, a Korean-Canadian woman w more experience and knowledge of the world of my characters, the lack of Asian female, especially Korean writers in the writers room of Kims made my life VERY DIFFICULT & the experience of working on the show painful,” Yoon wrote.
Yoon also described the scripts the cast received for Season 5 as “overtly racist.”
Yoon added that production did not take their calls for greater diversity in the writer’s room seriously.
“What I find tragic about this situation was the refusal to believe the urgency with which we advocated for inclusion in the writers room,” she wrote. “The failure to send us treatments, outlines, the resistance to cultural corrections & feedback.”
In his Facebook post, Liu also said the cast was paid a “horsepoop rate” compared to casts from shows with lower ratings.
“Compared to shows like Schitt’s Creek, who had ‘brand-name talent’ with American agents, but whose ratings were not as high as ours, we were making NOTHING,” he wrote.
Showrunners are planning a spin-off for Shannon, the white girlfriend of Jung on “Kim’s Convenience.” Liu said in his post that he is proud of Nicole, the actress who plays Shannon, but has no intention of reprising his role.
“I love and am proud of Nicole, and I want the show to succeed for her… but I remain resentful of all of the circumstances that led to the one non-Asian character getting her own show,” Liu wrote. “And not that they would ever ask, but I will adamantly refuse to reprise my role in any capacity.”
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Have Asian American viewers become large enough to support an All Asian tv/movie channel similar to BET did for African Americans? Love to see that. And, screw mainstream media…we don’t need you.