Simu Liu recently called out a boba tea company for cultural appropriation. His comments are receiving support from Asian Americans on social media.
Liu made the comments during an appearance on a show called “Dragon’s Den,” which is essentially a Canadian version of Shark Tank. The actor and his fellow judges were listening to a pitch from Sebastien Fiset and Jess Frenette, who own a boba tea company called Bobba. Its signature product is canned boba tea with popping boba.
The owners opened their pitch by giving their own description of bubble tea.
“Yes, I’m talking about bubble tea: that trendy, sugary drink you are queueing up for, and you are never quite sure about its content. Those days are over with Bobba,” Frenette said during the beginning of the pitch.
Liu objected to this characterization, saying, “Hang on. I’m quite sure about its content. But, continue.”
Fiset then went on to claim that “Bobba” had “transformed this beloved beverage into a convenient, healthier, ready-to-drink experience.”
After all of the judges, who are also potential investors, tried the product one judge asked Liu if he enjoyed the drink. Liu said he thought the drink was “fine,” but was more concerned about Fiset and Frenette pitching their product as “disrupting or disturbing” the boba tea market.
“There’s an issue of taking something that’s very distinctly Asian in its identity and ‘making it better,’ which I have an issue with,” Liu said.
Fiset claimed the popping boba made the product unique.
“But it’s not an ethnical product anymore. Not with the popping bobas. So we took the Asian version and we made it with fruit, with juice…” he said.
Liu’s fellow judge Manjit Minhas voiced her support of Fiset’s claim, saying she had never experienced popping bobas. Minhas ultimately chose to invest in the company.
But, popping boba has been around for years.
Liu’s comments are receiving support from Asian Americans on TikTok, X and other social media platforms. Soogia, a popular creator on TikTok, made a four-part series about the incident, pointing out some of its racist stereotypes within the pitch.
“What do you mean you’re not sure about its content? Whose not sure about its content?” she said.
She added, “But it’s always that way, isn’t it? You can’t trust the people of the ethnicity from which that food comes to actually make that food because, you know, they’re so deviant. Like agua fresca has to be turned into ‘spa water’ because otherwise its dirty and its unclean. You can’t trust a Chinese restaurant to make Chinese food because it’s probably dog or cat.”
After clips of the pitch went viral, Liu issued a statement asking people not to harass the owners of Bobba.
“There were a lot of things with the pitch that I took issue with and I disagreed with and as a result, I pulled out as a potential investor but that doesn’t mean that I believe that they deserve harassment and threats. I think a lot of grace should be afforded to them,” he said.
Bobba also issued a statement saying they regretted “the harm we have caused by our words and actions on the show.”
“Additionally, Simu Liu raised very valid points regarding cultural appropriation and we welcome this learning opportunity.”
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