We at P6 do give air time to others in particularly egregious cases
Quote of note:
What is Hung but an infantilized, incompetent and impotent male image? Strong? No. Virile? No. Sexy? The guy's a virgin.
You can sell that?
You certainly wouldn't see them glorify a black man who couldn't sing and dance on "American Idol." Nor would they prop up a clumsy, tone-deaf white person.
Certainly, there'd be no shortage of worthy candidates for Hung-like stardom. Regular "American Idol" viewers know tons of good singers have been rejected and abused by the show's Simon Cowell.
The difference here? Hung is Asian American. And the accented-foreigner gag is still considered acceptable shtick in modern comedy -- at least when it comes to Asian Americans.
William Hung: Racism, Or Magic?
Emil Guillermo, Special to SF Gate
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
©2004 SF Gate
He banged. I resisted. And still do.
When I first saw Hong Kong-born UC Berkeley engineering student William Hung sing that Ricky Martin song on Fox's "American Idol" last January, I tried to ignore it.
But, after Hung's humiliation, there came a nice outpouring of sympathy for the rejected puppy dog.
Here was an accented Asian American with bad hair, bad teeth, bad moves and a bad accent. And even though he can't sing, America still loved him.
OK. The glorification of bad is a nice twist. But I figured the joke would die off soon enough.
It hasn't. And now I'm wondering why America is extending the joke.
Is there more than just the glorification of bad, something driven by racism?
