NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: Keep Jesse Watters off TV after ‘racist’ segment
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) took to Twitter Wednesday evening to demand that Fox News’ Jesse Watters be kept off TV after a recent “Watters’ World” segment on “The O’Reilly Factor” was characterized as racist by critics.
In the segment, Watters visited New York’s Chinatown neighborhood to conduct man-on-the-street interviews with passersby about the presidential campaign and Chinese-U.S. relations. Watters asked questions such as “Am I supposed to bow to say hello?” and “Do they call Chinese food in China just food?”
Some Twitter users objected to the segment.
The Asian American Journalists Association issued a statement demanding an apology for the segment, which they said “committed a litany of offenses.”
The statement said, in part:
It’s 2016. We should be far beyond tired, racist stereotypes and targeting an ethnic group for humiliation and objectification on the basis of their race. Sadly, Fox News proves it has a long way to go in reporting on communities of color in a respectful and fair manner.
Host Bill O’Reilly called the segment “gentle fun.” There was nothing gentle or fun about it. It was rude, offensive, mocking, derogatory and damaging.
Fox missed a real opportunity to investigate the Asian American vote, a topic not often covered in mainstream news.
Watters addressed the controversy on Twitter, writing that his segments are “meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek.”
Watch the original segment below:
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Comments:
Most Chinese would just laugh along with that and enjoy the humor and attention. How many times have I heard people say “they are hungry an hour later” never given a second thought. McDonalds. PC crap.
I lived in Brazil for a time and down there they call it “North American” football instead of football, because the rest of the world uses the term futbol to mean soccer. They would call it an “American” hamburger. Did I find that racist? No, it only crosses the mind of a racist that it could be considered racist. Don’t we do this all the time? Italian Gelato, Canadian Bacon, German pancake, French toast, Chinese food? What is so racist about giving credit to it’s creator? If the Chinese created a certain niche of foods, what is so offensive if we call it Chinese food to differentiate it. My suspicion is that the Chinese do call it “food”. Get off the victim band wagon and start living life as a contributor.
My beautiful, wonderful daughter-in-law is from China. My son doesn’t deserve her. She laughs at me because “You Amelicans don’t know how to use chop sticks.” She chose the name ‘Patricia’ to Americanize herself, and I razz her by saying “Why did you choose a name with an “R” in it when you can’t pronounce it?” She says “Becrause it’s a plitty name.” We get along just fine and jab each other with jokes to celebrate the differences between our cultures and races. I’ve learned so much from her and she is a delight to be around. Chin Pei ( her given name) says that what we call “chinese food” is NOT “weel Chinee food.” If she and my son had a fight, I would definitely take her side, no matter what! If we can’t talk and joke about our differences, we are doomed as a nation.
