Guy Aoki offers a behind the scenes glimpse at the effort to save Selfie starrring John Cho and Karen Gillan in his column for Rafu Shimpo.
Among the big players in the movement were Erika Lawson of Kentucky, Heather Johnson from California and Aoki himself.
Lawson was the woman who launched the change.org petition calling for a second season. It generated more than 28,000 signatures.
Heather Johnson made it a personal mission to save the show, staying up late into the night to retweet every #SaveSelfie tweet. It seems her boyfriend is Asian American and she felt it was important to see more Asian American men portrayed in a positive light in the media.
Aoki is president of MANAA, Media Action Network for Asian Americans. He had a phone conversation with Tim McNeal, the head of diversity at ABC. McNeal told Aoki the ratings and the ad dollars just weren’t there to support the program. Lee also tried to contact Warner Bros studios in hopes it would shop Selfie around to other broadcast and cable outlets. It was a non-starter. The studio wouldn’t even take his calls and the secretary hung up on Aoki.
Aoki isn’t giving up. The remaining shows can be seen on Hulu Plus and abc.com. Strong viewership on those venues could convince someone to pick Selfie up. Aoki is also encouraging fans to vote for Selfie as your favorite new show in the People’s choice awards.
You can read find out more about the conversations Aoki had with studio executives in Rafu Shimpo.
RE: Behind the Scenes push to save Selfie: Without Guy Aoki, the APA landscape on tv & the movies would be completely devoid of APA’s. He is the voice & go to guy for many years & many years to come fighting the good fight for us. Please support his organization in any way possible. I would think that many APA civil rights organizations ought to honor him & his organization especially on the east coast.