Racism is a hot topic right now and it’s cut through virtually all aspects of every day conversation, especially those involving Hollywood. Celebrities are getting called out for their past faux pas involving the ill-advised use of blackface, and it seems like more famous people are pinged by the day. The latest celeb being called out for blackface is none other than Tina Fey, but the outrage over her faux pas only scratches the surface of a deeper, systemic issue of problematic portrayals of Black and Asian people in Hollywood.
Speaking of long overdue reckonings, the GOAT team talk about how Megan Fox deserves a massive apology on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
This saga began when Variety reported that four episodes of 30 Rock containing blackface were to be pulled at the request of Tina Fey, who also apologised “for pain [the episodes] have caused.”
That would’ve been fine and all since most problematic shows and movies are getting pulled from most streaming services. However, Tina Fey royally botched her apology by calling her usage of blackface “race-changing makeup” and shirking any accountability for her actions, which in turn made her decision to pull the offensive episodes of 30 Rock seem like an act of saving her own arse as opposed to actually experiencing any legitimate growth.
This led to the internet digging up the numerous occasions in the past where Tina Fey has refused to accept any criticism over offensive portrayals of Black and Native American people on 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
All this outrage over Tina Fey’s use of blackface for comedy and her refusal to accept responsibility for her actions is perfectly justified. But if we’re talking about problematic depictions of race in Hollywood, then yellowface and the depiction of Asians also deserves your outrage because that’s still a thing and – surprise – Tina Fey has also dabbled in that as well.
Just like with blackface, Hollywood has had a piss-poor history of using yellowface in the depiction of Asians for several decades now. Sure movie studios no longer do the whole squinting, cliched “Asian” portrayal that they once did, but they’re still shoehorning white people into Asian roles and stories where they definitely don’t belong.
But just as problematic as white people donning yellowface to play Asian people in stories where they have no right in being a part of, Hollywood still has a troubling tendency to portray Asians in a less-than-flattering light.
Asians are usually the brunt of some stupidly stereotypical and terribly racist jokes, whether it’s something to do with what they eat, how they act, or even just how odd their names are. Not every Asian person is a martial arts master either, yet Hollywood insists we are.
People of Asian descent are complex human beings much like the next white person, yet Hollywood and Tina Fey-types generally only seem to view them as either punchlines for shitty jokes or a role for Scarlett Johansson to play in her next movie.
If we’re going to be outraged about racism in media and entertainment, then we also need to start talking about yellowface and offensive portrayals of Asians in the same breath as blackface.
Just because there’s less whitewashing and squinty-eyed portrayals of “Asians” going on these days (which isn’t saying much) doesn’t mean we’re in the clear yet. Far from it.
We’re not even close towards where we need to be in terms of stamping out systemic racism towards Black and Asian people and having big-name creators like Tina Fey refusing to acknowledge their prejudices is just one of the many hurdles we still need to fix.
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