By Matt Schiavenza
Last week's episode of Holland's Got Talent featured a 30-year-old Chinese-born contestant named Xiao Wang, a PhD candidate who moonlights as an opera singer.
Here were a few of Heuckeroth's comments:
"Which number are you singing? Number 39 with rice?"
"This is the best Chinese I've had in weeks, and it's not takeaway!"
"He looks like a waiter from a Chinese restaurant."
"This is the best Chinese person I've ever seen, and he's not even a delivery boy."
Hueckeroth, who for some reason goes by the name "Gordon," also called Xiao's performance a "surplise."
A Chinese man holding up a sign during an anti-Jimmy Kimmel protest in downtown Washington, D.C. on November 9.
Last week's episode of Holland's Got Talent featured a 30-year-old Chinese-born contestant named Xiao Wang, a PhD candidate who moonlights as an opera singer.
Xiao was on hand to sing "La donna e mobile," an aria from Verdi's Rigoletto.
However, one of the talent judges on the show, Dutch singer Cornelis Willem Heuckeroth, used the segment as an opportunity to mock Xiao.
However, one of the talent judges on the show, Dutch singer Cornelis Willem Heuckeroth, used the segment as an opportunity to mock Xiao.
Here were a few of Heuckeroth's comments:
"Which number are you singing? Number 39 with rice?"
"This is the best Chinese I've had in weeks, and it's not takeaway!"
"He looks like a waiter from a Chinese restaurant."
"This is the best Chinese person I've ever seen, and he's not even a delivery boy."
Hueckeroth, who for some reason goes by the name "Gordon," also called Xiao's performance a "surplise."
***
The incident came after a controversy last month from Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the ABC late-night show, in which Kimmel convened a panel of children for a mock discussion of current events. At one point, Kimmel asked the kids what the U.S. should do about its debt to China.
"Kill everyone in China," said a 6-year-old boy, to which Kimmel replied: "OK, that's an interesting idea."
The segment triggered an immediate reaction: Chinese groups picketed outside ABC studios and even petitioned the White House.
In fact, the reaction to the Kimmel gaffe has been so strong that it has even triggered a counter-reaction from those who believe that the Chinese overreacted.
"Kill everyone in China," said a 6-year-old boy, to which Kimmel replied: "OK, that's an interesting idea."
The segment triggered an immediate reaction: Chinese groups picketed outside ABC studios and even petitioned the White House.
In fact, the reaction to the Kimmel gaffe has been so strong that it has even triggered a counter-reaction from those who believe that the Chinese overreacted.
Anthony Tao, a Chinese-American writer and principal author of Beijing Cream, an excellent blog, wrote:
A serious question, fellow Chinese community members: what kind of joke—something actually funny—with the word “China” or “Chinese” in it would you consider acceptable? Where’s the line that, if not crossed, won’t make you go signing an online petition as if anyone** thinks killing all Chinese people is actually a good idea?
I'd guess that just about everyone in China realizes that the humor of the segment was just how exaggerate the boy's comment was, as well as Kimmel's deadpan reaction.
But the reality is that negative references to Chinese remain common in popular culture.
A serious question, fellow Chinese community members: what kind of joke—something actually funny—with the word “China” or “Chinese” in it would you consider acceptable? Where’s the line that, if not crossed, won’t make you go signing an online petition as if anyone** thinks killing all Chinese people is actually a good idea?
I'd guess that just about everyone in China realizes that the humor of the segment was just how exaggerate the boy's comment was, as well as Kimmel's deadpan reaction.
But the reality is that negative references to Chinese remain common in popular culture.
A doctoral student who sings opera on the side is casually mocked for his racial similarity to Chinese immigrants who work in restaurants.
A boy calling on everyone in a country to be killed is just an innocent, amusing comment from a little rugrat.
It isn't just that the Dutch TV personality is a jerk, or that Jimmy Kimmel and his producers are somewhat insensitive.
It's that we still live in a society where these sentiments still arise, and that these "slip-ups" occur with regularity.
These events have real consequences, too, in how Chinese people see the United States.
Consider this poll conducted by the Chinese news broadcaster Phoenix TV about the Kimmel incident, which was helpfully translated by ChinaSmack.
When asked whether they believed "the 'kill everyone in China' remark said by the 6-year-old child on the television program was by chance," a large majority (62 percent) said that "this is the negative consequences borne by the long-term dissemination of the notion of a Chinese threat."
Kimmel's termination—or Heuckeworth's—won't ensure that anti-Chinese sentiment will go away.
It's that we still live in a society where these sentiments still arise, and that these "slip-ups" occur with regularity.
These events have real consequences, too, in how Chinese people see the United States.
Consider this poll conducted by the Chinese news broadcaster Phoenix TV about the Kimmel incident, which was helpfully translated by ChinaSmack.
When asked whether they believed "the 'kill everyone in China' remark said by the 6-year-old child on the television program was by chance," a large majority (62 percent) said that "this is the negative consequences borne by the long-term dissemination of the notion of a Chinese threat."
Kimmel's termination—or Heuckeworth's—won't ensure that anti-Chinese sentiment will go away.
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