David Lee rants about Korean entertainers visiting America
In case you haven’t heard, there’s been a lot of talk about some comments David Lee has made about how ridiculous the Korean actors portrayed Koreans when “Infinite Challenge” was filmed in New York. Here’s some of the more interesting things he said (original article):
While watching, I felt like dying from embarrassment … They were ignored like dogs on the streets by New Yorkers, for mumbling gibberish … They were treated like retards at the pizza place by being thrown a random slice to eat … Am I the only one who thinks this, or did those white boys make him into a complete fool? I wonder what those white boys were thinking. Perhaps they thought, ‘WHAT ARE THESE F–KING RETARDS DOING?’ … Keep the low-grade comedy in Korea … Of course, this episode is perfect for Koreans who think this low-grade comedy is oh-so-funny … Why don’t you get rid of the ‘food’ and just tell those New Yorkers with you gibberish that Dokdo is our land?
He then followed up trying to clear up his rant (same article):
… In America, Asians get worse treatment than black or latino people …
More recently, after deleting his Cyworld minihome, he has sent out an apology (follow-up article featuring his apology):
… I thought that I was just an ordinary commoner, so I posted on my personal mini-homepage, not knowing how big of an impact it would bring. I didn’t intend on targeting anyone specific, but I seemed to have hurt many people … What I wrote of these people, like a rant with no basis, I did it without thinking, and I take full responsibility… I used severe expressions. For that, I give my apology …
What do y’all think? If there’s anything I’ve learned after years of studying Korea, it’s that Korean netizens hath hell’s fury. I have to say, after watching the video I think he was analyzing it way too much. Throwing pizza like he was throwing pizza to a dog? Freak, they guy just gave them some pizza. Infinite Challenge is a comedy show and I think everything they did was for a laugh. The fact that they couldn’t speak English was half of the joke. They probably could have had a translator, but would that have been funny? Maybe some people have a different sense of humor, but I think if I was Korean I would find this episode pretty funny. Degrading? Maybe, but comedians use that to bring out laughs. I don’t think I blame David though. Each of us come from different backgrounds and because of that we take some things really seriously. Maybe he’s had enough experiences in his life dealing with the stereotype of Asians and with racism that this kind of humor just doesn’t float his boat.
I think some of his claims are valid, as strong-worded as they were. But some stuff was ridiculous. The pizza wasn’t thrown at them like they were dogs. Asians are not treated worse than blacks and latinos. And so on. But I do think that episode was pretty senseless. I think it would have been funnier if they did it to the foreigners IN Korea instead of flying all the way out to America.
I think sometimes Asians are treated worst then blacks and Latinos. Just look at the McCain and Sarah Silverman example. If they had said a racial slur about either group, their careers would be over.
But because they said it about Asians, not only did people forget about it, but some people even defended them.