Hollywood’s Walk of Shame: The History of Asian Stereotypes in Pop Culture

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Published on April 15, 2021

While there have been some (long overdue) apologies made for America’s former anti-Asian policies, the racist sentiments they reflected continue to be perpetuated in our movies, TV shows, and popular culture. It’s about time Hollywood took a walk of shame.

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116 comments

  • Frizzle the Cat 3 years ago

    I listened to a podcast with George Takei recently, and he pointed out how progressive Star Trek actually was and how much it meant for him to be not just a comedic role or a villain, but a recurring character who was also the best pilot on Earth and a Lieutenant, too.

    Reply
  • feniks 3 years ago

    Yes we want less Mark Wahlberg

    Reply
  • PMD 3 years ago

    Sarah Silverman, Conan and Bill Maher think calling Asian “Chinks” is to raise awareness of discrimination. But they are still considered “woke”.

    Reply
  • Matthew 3 years ago

    Ok, I mostly agree, but jokes ABOUT Asian stereotypes are not actually Asian stereotypes. I know, I know, this is a common point raised whenever talking about comedy, but it never seems to sink in: if I make a joke about a chicken crossing a road, it doesn’t reflect my real beliefs about chickens. So Wahlberg (and Jeong and McFarlane) weren’t being racist in Ted; they were ridiculing racism, laughing at it. Whether you think that’s good or bad, it’s disingenuous to suggest they’re really racist (Wahlberg’s past actions as a teen being another subject entirely, of course).

    Similarly, I never saw Full Metal Jacket, and I kmow that scene is used by racists, but was it racist originally? It is racist to have an Asian use an Asian accent? Yeun put on a strong one in Minari — was that racist? I think it’s kinda racist to think that there’s anything wrong with an Asian having an Asian accent — like, what’s wrong with having an accent? It’s a second language — of course there’ll be an accent. It’s impressive to speak two languages, accent or not.

    That said, I’m happy that Asians have roles other than stereotypes; more than Minari, which I found kinda boring, I preferred something like Yeun’s Glenn im Walking Dead, who just happened to be Asian but was more importantly a human in an interesting story. Stories about other cultures can be interesting too and so it’s all good stuff, but I think Minari just wasn’t a strong example of it. But in any case there was huge racism in past portrayals, and representation is important in culture.

    But don’t go finding racism where it isn’t there — that only hurts the cause.

    Reply
  • Unicorn Vic 3 years ago

    There’s should be many asians-americans in movies, more of them!

    Reply
  • Alfareon 3 years ago

    Keanu Reeves is part chinese

    Reply
  • Lauren Vicker 3 years ago

    So true, but she might have mentioned Toshiro Mifune and his samurai movies. He was our first Super Hero.

    Reply
  • Ben W 3 years ago

    Nearly all movies use stereotypes, among all races, but it doesn’t mean the stereotypes are necessarily bad. A movie stereotype can also be historical or a reflection of actual life. The issue with stereotypes is when they are intentionally used to demean, misinform, suggest that only that stereotype exists, etc. Nearly every stereotype has a real-life counterpart (It’s why the stereotype exists in the first place.) There is a line that has to be crossed before using such stereotype was wrong.

    Reply
  • Jim Cornwall 3 years ago

    and of course, George Takei in his role on Star Trek. Not *the* lead character, but he was certainly one of the major players in it.

    Reply
  • Celisar1 3 years ago

    And here I was-thinking that Asian Americans were a perfectly integrated part of society, admired for their diligence and hard work and their success in among other things scientific areas, music, etc.. I cannot fathom that there is also anti Asian racism around but have now learned that it even occurs between other minorities and Asian Americans.
    Why people have to make life miserable for others instead of helping each other is beyond me.

    Reply
  • Jose Vera 3 years ago

    H do it with every race

    Reply
  • Jezza Lenko 3 years ago

    Emma Stone was only 1/4 Asian in Hawaii….and it’s debatable that it was even a movie…

    Reply
  • Scott Gillespie 3 years ago

    Anime? Hong Kong action cinema? Oops, those are Asian stereotypes perpetuated by Asians.

    Reply
  • Erin Thesystem 3 years ago

    3 words: Flower Drum Song.

    Reply
  • Rick Deckard 3 years ago

    Three, two, three, four
    Four, two, three, AND!

    These men are pawns.

    Reply
  • KoomaAppa 3 years ago

    Then there are BTS, BLACKPINK, and other Kpop stars who are some of the biggest, popular, and yes, best-selling artists in the world.

    Reply
  • Suzette Williams 3 years ago

    Riz Ahmed has also been nominated and he is also Asian.

    Reply
  • melbatoast667 3 years ago

    I always love a good reminder that Mark Wahlberg is trash.

    Reply
  • Indigo Wolf 3 years ago

    I never saw that movie with John Wayne only saw a little Snippets. But it looked awful just awful.

    Reply
  • Meribela Savior 3 years ago

    Like every other minority, just not as bad.

    Reply
  • David Hill 3 years ago

    The weirdest part is that the reason Tilda Swinton played The Ancient One is because China said that they didn’t want Marvel to have the character portrayed as a Tibetan monk, so they changed it to a Celtic mystic.

    Reply
  • Alice Grohs 3 years ago

    Sam, we don’t want Polanski too.

    Reply
  • tosheatower 3 years ago

    Oh Samantha Bee, are you the biggest hypocrite on TV these days, maybe yes…you continously try to make ratings on this white people bad, everyone else good nonsense and yet, if you really felt that way, wouldn’t you step down from your show and give the job to some minority??? You are all talk, no walk.

    Reply
  • Ryan Pete 3 years ago

    I love that people are FINALLY no longer afraid to bring up the fact that Mark Wahlberg is a violent racist who commits hate crimes.

    Reply
  • 1639danmcc 3 years ago

    Wasn’t David Carradine brought in to play Caine on the series Kung Fu instead of Bruce Lee?

    Reply
  • Scott Shuker 3 years ago

    Even when the leading man was actually an East-Asian, he was a martial arts expert like Bruce Lee.

    Reply
  • lakitha tolbert 3 years ago

    The only people making the argument that representation doesn’t matter are the ones who have it, who get to see all of themselves represented all day every day every where! Of course it doesn’t matter to them.

    Reply
  • rabit818 3 years ago

    Unfortunately, prostitution in Thailand, Philippines – thanks to former US bases, sexualized asian women

    Reply
  • Puget Sound Pete 3 years ago

    No mention of a courageous actor, Noriyuki “Pat” Morita. I admire him.

    Reply
  • Bobby Reynolds 3 years ago

    And though it’s not as bad as it once was, let’s not forget movies and TV shows having Asians speaking in “Charlie Chan”-syntax, where they know the proper use of polysyllabic words like “exquisite” but don’t use articles or pronouns. I know I never met any Asian people who spoke like that.

    Reply
  • New Message 3 years ago

    Lookin’ at you, Micky Rooney…

    Reply
  • kassia pencek 3 years ago

    That John Wayne clip is cringe

    Reply
  • The_Thrillist84 3 years ago

    I needs me some more BEE!

    Reply
  • James Lee 3 years ago

    Growing up, Harold and Kumar goes to White Castle was the only positive Asian representation that I could relate to. That movie was ahead of its time.

    Reply
  • Taz D 3 years ago

    0:01 Samantha Bee forgot to look at her own callousness when she, on this show, mocked the idea of Andrew Yang running for President. That’s political showbiz.

    Reply
  • Flame Beats 3 years ago

    That Calgon ad could’ve easily said “family secret” and the joke would’ve landed as intended and not been racist.

    Reply
  • Taz D 3 years ago

    High school plays like The King & I still whitewash the King by casting the popular white boy to play yellowface. I’m sure if the student body hadn’t mocked Asians, particularly Asian boys, they would have had more self-esteem or less embarrassment over auditioning for roles that were “meant” for popular white kids to play.

    Reply
  • Mububban23 3 years ago

    Re Scarlett Johannsen’s “whitewashing” of Major in Ghost int he Shell, I have to say in their defence, have you seen the original anime? Or any anime? Many of the characters are down to look more anglo than asian! Many asians see white skin as preferable for whatever reason, so they anglo-case the characters they draw, enlarging and rounding the eyes and lightening the skin tone.
    Sticking Major’s brain in the body of a European-looking robot to me was just another way to show how she’d been violated and had her identity taken away from her without consent.
    And I’m half Chinese so I absolutely get where the genuine disgust at asian portrayals is coming from, because I’ve had it my whole life too.

    Reply
  • Ty Larson 3 years ago

    Sad about Crazy Rich Asians was that it focused completely on Han Chinese rather than native people. It would be like a movie on South Africa with only white people.

    Reply
  • just a troll 3 years ago

    I think America may be the only country taking accountability for stereotyping other races. Here in India movies stereotype Americans, Chinese and Europeans like crazy!

    Reply
  • Lenworth 3 years ago

    Asian face john wayne is the stuff of nightmares

    Reply
  • raileht doe 3 years ago

    Myrna Loy ended up playing Asian roles too while Anna May Wong was around.

    Reply
  • God is great- America is great 3 years ago

    who’s to be BLAMED? taiwan province of China SMALL brain pro-independence spreading Chinese ethnics HATRED, now their dumb actions backfired.
    ISO 3166-2 International Organization for Standardization ISO code. Retrieved 2020-08-26. Short name TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA. taiwan is included as a subdivision of China because of its political status within the United Nations, as, even though it is de facto under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China instead of the People’s Republic of China, the United Nations does not recognize the Republic of China and considers taiwan as part of China. In ISO 3166-1, taiwan is listed as “Taiwan, Province of China”

    Reply
  • Totally Pony 3 years ago

    Sam you just ruined transformers for me with that Mark Wahlberg comment. Oh wait.

    Reply
  • Bob Scott 3 years ago

    Oups, I googled it…Sorry Mark.

    Reply
  • markgiles313 3 years ago

    Thanks for mentioning Wahlbergs bigotry. Wahlberg has a repetitive racist history, maiming and hospitalizing people of color. Yet Hollywood continues to hire him. Even Kimmel had him on days ago.
    To end systemic racism, maybe stop celebrating racist actors.

    Reply
  • Damon Hines 3 years ago

    ‘Kim’s Convenience’…good or not so much? Come home, Sam, btw. <3

    Reply
  • T D 3 years ago

    Hollywood has always casts Asian females with white males as well. It seems like 95% of the Asian female roles are meant to be exotic wives/girlfriends. Very impressionable to young Asian viewers.

    Reply
  • KPepper L 3 years ago

    I’m so tired of tv shows that will only have Asian actors as lead roles if it involve martial arts. I promise you, we do not all know how to fight… If we all know martial arts, trust me, there wouldn’t be any uptake on anti-Asian crimes… There will just be a lot of racists ended up at hospitals.

    Reply
  • Naeela Baksh 3 years ago

    Love Agents of Shield, they have 2 amazing Asian women playing lead roles

    Reply
  • Makar Pronin 3 years ago

    Brainwashing

    Reply
  • Science Nonfiction 3 years ago

    Not only are the white actors offensive, we have big noses, couldn’t pull it off even with less racist accessories.

    Reply
  • Lena Wagenfuehr 3 years ago

    Everyone please remember the name Kim Wong Ark – the man who fought the anti-Asian immigration acts and won!

    Reply
  • Breaking Bad 3 years ago

    Asian American doesn’t just equal East Asian. I think it’s great to call out Anti-Asian racism in Hollywood but South Asians, Middle Easterners, Southeast Asians, etc are Asian too. Riz Ahmed was another actor of Asian descent nominated for lead actor this year, yet you ignored his accomplishment. He’s not less Asian just because he’s brown.

    Reply
  • Kenn Mossman 3 years ago

    What about the noxious Grammarly ads that show an Asian woman?

    Reply
  • Liz Jones 3 years ago

    Race baiting dingbat. You are as about as funny as a load of piles!

    Reply
  • Lao Tzu 3 years ago

    Samantha Bee is a racist privileged white woman giving lectures on Hollywood’s walk of shame, all the while cashing in on anti-Asian policies!

    Reply
  • KidaDraws 3 years ago

    Thank you for this

    Reply
  • Paul Ho 3 years ago

    To All The Boys!

    Reply
  • Quack 3 years ago

    Progressiveness means remembering the past, and not moving forward. It also means being offended by everything.

    Reply
  • steven heng 3 years ago

    the last air bender, dragonball evolution, the last samurai, and the great wall are some dishonorable mentions.

    Reply
  • melvasaiel 3 years ago

    Also recommended: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, featuring a diverse cast including a Filipino guy as the main love interest.

    Reply
  • obamasgirl 3 years ago

    Now Asians are getting the same treatment as blk ppl as they should because this is how Asians treat blk ppl and they feel they are above blk pp

    Reply
  • A.K. Hill 3 years ago

    I love Sam B, and I get the intent BUT “Asian” constitutes numerous ethnic groups who all have a different history and experience in the US. Lumping them all together is not helping.

    Reply
  • HarryGuit 3 years ago

    Forgot Michael Caine as main character on Kung Fu preferred to Bruce Lee?

    Reply
  • John Jacobs 3 years ago

    blm is a terrorist organization you help spread there lies and rhetoric

    Reply
  • Darryl Sherman 3 years ago

    she forgot to mention how Bruce Lee was hosed for the role of Caine in Kung Fu…

    Reply
  • Jimmie Matthews 3 years ago

    This is one of the worst shows in history, and I’ve seen golden girls

    Reply
  • The Fourth Lens 3 years ago

    You only talk east asia

    Reply
  • tibor warski 3 years ago

    “I have never uttered those words, mostly because they are racist”—STOP—Do you want to delete episode of Full Frontal with Sam Bee and all upcoming episodes?—YES

    Reply
  • Ron Winter 3 years ago

    4:14. Thirteen minutes!? Braggart.

    Reply
  • Diogene 3 years ago

    Politically correct…

    Reply
  • Ken Danger 3 years ago

    Lets be real, even the zombies love Stephen Yeung

    Reply
  • Michael O'Donnell 3 years ago

    Delighted to see Tilda Swinton at least portrayed for her Whitewashed role.
    Unfortunately Sam didn’t mention how Swinton claimed her Whitewashed role was a “Triumph of Diversity”!

    Reply
  • The 6icK Sense: Masses of Gorgeous Asses 3 years ago

    {They have to stop kissing white people’s butts. See what they get?

    Reply
  • Ted Clancy 3 years ago

    I’m surprised you didn’t mention 1982’s The Year of Living Dangerously, for which Linda Hunt, a white woman, won an Oscar for playing an Asian *man*.

    Reply
  • Scott E Farmer 3 years ago

    Sam, you are Canadian, and didn’t mention Kim’s Convenience COME ON

    Reply
  • PETTY officer 3 years ago

    Samantha Bee: talks about Asian representation

    Also Samantha Bee: only talks about East Asian representation

    *C R I N G E*

    Reply
  • nuanced 3 years ago

    All that you say is true and correct but then comes the problem of overcorrecting, when all Asians have to be shown as sexy, genius, compassionate, benevolent, world-saving, goodness oozing …… and that’s when the fun of watching anything disappears.

    Reply
  • Sugar Brown 3 years ago

    Thank you for showing a lil glimpse to what sooo many don’t even know.

    Reply
  • The Ultimate Freak Show 3 years ago

    Well I had one issue with this entire video, using the ghost in the shell LA movie with Scarlett, while YES Major Kusangi is a Japanese character it is very well documented among Japanese citizens that they actually AGREED with her casting as Major Kusanagi, why do you ask? The same answer, she looked like the character, OUTSIDE OF THAT Major Kusanagi the character is her mind inside a cybernetic body called a Shell, hence “Ghost in the shell” the shell is NEVER actually depicted as Japanese in the point of what it looks like. So you can’t really call white washing on something you included and didn’t know anything about, with something as recognizable as GITH at least do the research. Otherwise you’re absolutely correct about everything else.

    Reply
  • somanycats 3 years ago

    I finally understand the ancient Chinese secret joke from Arrested Development.

    Reply
  • B Na 3 years ago

    As long as anime continues to whitewash and westernize their characters, it’s really difficult to complain when actors are cast who meet that aesthetic. Not sure why that example was included when all of the other points were so solid and well-thought out.

    Reply
  • Dirk Lac 3 years ago

    Roman Polanski had to flee Europe for Hollywood. No one here wants that creep back.

    Reply
  • Michael Musselman 3 years ago

    If I was from Western Asia, this entire clip would be disappointing. Also, Tilda Swinton, a white actor playing an Asian, was a role that China forced Marvel Studios to make because it was originally created as a Tibetan Buddhist. China would not have allowed the movie to be shown and it is a bigger movie market than America. Marvel got back at China by making the white person a woman.

    Reply
  • Billa Bong 3 years ago

    Indian people are Asian too apparently. Not just Chinese people.

    Reply
  • Lars Frogner 3 years ago

    Me love you long time, simply means you won’t get charged extra after 15 or 30 minutes. This is called a short time and has become a stereotype of Asian women when it’s actually universal. Just trust me on this one.

    Reply
  • Marlies Benter 3 years ago

    Can someone please kick the people who disliked this video off the Internet?!!

    Reply
  • Jeffrey Lai 3 years ago

    Thank you Samantha bee for supporting the Asians everywhere

    Reply
  • jc 3 years ago

    Hollywood can’t be trusted to fix these issues so I am glad that at least the Koreans are strong in global media(movies, dramas, music..etc) and repping the Asians.

    Reply
  • Jerome Turner 3 years ago

    Ghost in the Shell doesn’t count, to me.

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  • Laird Hercules 3 years ago

    I actually had a conversation about this that in modern times, Asian is the new black. Like in old horror movies, if you were black, you were not going to survive. Now it’s Asian’s. We actually time how long they live. The boys tv show was just over 1.5 minutes and even winter soldier and falcon was a few minutes. I hope this changes.

    Reply
  • judith sullivan 3 years ago

    I think I’ve fallen in love with you…….. Where have you been all my life…. I mean really I’m not kidding…… Yes I’m kidding………. Nope not……..yea.. of course just kidding……. I could keep this going
    …..

    Reply
  • keralytekid 3 years ago

    I appreciate this report thoroughly. However, I’m not sure many people know what Asian really means. They forgot a whole bunch of other Asian stereotypes from a whole bunch of other countries.

    Reply
  • Jason Luong 3 years ago

    Brian Dennehy as Kublai Khan made in 2007! I kid you not.

    Reply
  • Nicholas Juntilla 3 years ago

    As a half Asian / Half white man I have grown up in a country where I am not reflected in any media. I really hope for more diversity one day, including all the people of color, not just Black and White. This is my country. I don’t belong anywhere else and I would like for people be familiar with me too.

    Reply
  • Fred Eric 3 years ago

    I get the representation thing, not from an ethnic but from a historical perspective – As a german I humbly want to add, that it’s not flattering at all to represented as the “at least we’re not as bad as the germans” trope, or just plain evil.

    Reply
  • Travis Cutler 3 years ago

    Full metal jacket is a master piece and that scene is a reflection of what Americans cultural and brutal war had on Vietnam. It wasn’t the movie that popularized the stereotype it was the song from 2 Live Crew.
    It’s important to distinguish between dramatic roles that makes us uncomfortable and racist stereotypes that entertain. I expect a little more subtlety from a fellow Canadian…….

    Reply
  • Christine 3 years ago

    I love that final jab at Mark Whalberg. If I never anything with him in it again it would be too soon.

    Reply
  • Jeff Hughes 3 years ago

    Whatever you do, don’t look at Jello commercials from the 50’s. Or do, I won’t tell you how to live your life.

    Reply
  • DyslexicAnaboko 3 years ago

    It broke me when I found out that the indian dood from short circuit was a white guy in brown face. I loved that movie as a kid.

    Reply
  • DyslexicAnaboko 3 years ago

    I refused to watch the ghost in the shell movie. Pissed me off that they casted scarlet as major. Such bullshit.

    Reply
  • Andrea Brown 3 years ago

    Puts a new spin on the adage that racism is learned. Of course, black Americans have been complaining about their media representations since the ’60s. Perhaps had anyone listened back then, we wouldn’t be here now. Imagine if all the white people in the media were portrayed as bigots. Like in Roots, which many white people claimed was reverse racist.

    Reply
  • Justin Shim 3 years ago

    I have an Asian friend who made an interesting observation once. He asked “what was the last major Hollywood studio movie you saw with an Asian female character who was *not* a sex object?”

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  • queer brown girl 3 years ago

    hey non-asian fans of east asian music & tv, this is why we have been trying to get yall to stop those “cute” imitations of east asian accents for years, we get that u dont mean any harm, but mocking accents has been the #1 way hollywood used asian people as a joke for the last 100 years. please please please finally put that trend to rest. no more adding “eu” or “o” to the end of english words, no more spelling R words with Ls, no more using asian accents as a punchline. if u truly are a fan of asian media, than respect asian people.

    Reply
  • Dave Wright 3 years ago

    If I were an asian man, my drag name would be Anime Wong. As a white person, I am not allowed because it would be problematic and racist.

    Reply
  • Carla M 3 years ago

    Yea the portrayal of Asian women as see workers leads to aggressive white men praying on Asian women and yellow fever.

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  • msjulicious 3 years ago

    why didn’t she mention All-American Girl with Margaret Cho? i used to love that show

    Reply
  • Anarchy4Angels 3 years ago

    The Karate Kid was very brave telling the story about how Mr Miyagi’s wife and baby died in a camp when the US imprisoned Asian Americans in the Second World War. It’s an exception though.

    Reply
  • Chang Elizabeth 3 years ago

    Well, technically you can get good Asian roles from films made in Asia, a Chinese drama won’t give you an accent

    Reply
  • Don Key 3 years ago

    It’s funny how when something is the new niche rich left elites jump all over it when they didn’t care a month ago. They don’t care either that left elite colleges in the US discriminant against Asians today. With their policy to limit the number of Asians accepted because basically they are too smart. That seems racist and hurts more Asians than this problem. Why don’t the left elites talk about that too?

    Reply
  • Out of The Hat 3 years ago

    I loved the 90’s Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella where the prince was Asian American, and he was shown as being handsome while being an Asian male.

    Reply
  • Zett76 3 years ago

    As a kid, I always wondered “Why do they call David Carradine names like ‘dirty Chinese’, in ‘Kung Fu’? That doesn’t make any sense…”

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  • Dr. James Olack 3 years ago

    Thanks, Sam. Good work to all involved!

    Reply
  • Royane E Khalil 3 years ago

    Ironic that asian women are shown as extremely submissive yet are highly intelligent academically at the same time (stereotype)
    However, on another note, many asian countries have had more female heads of state than united states of America

    Reply
  • christopher crowley 3 years ago

    As an Irish person it’s sad to see Hollywood still make irish stereotypes

    Reply

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