Offensive to Asians?

billythrilly7th · Dec 11, 2006

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=02ce57a7-b9b2-4af1-acb5-37cab91b7f75&entry=index

Apparently, offending Kelly Ripa and the whole of the Claynation was just warm up for Rosie O'Donnell.

The loose-lipped View master completed her alienation hat trick last Thursday, managing to offend some in the Chinese-American community with an impromptu impersonation.

O'Donnell was discussing*Danny DeVito's earlier visit to the show, in which the actor showed up drunk after a late night of Limocello-guzzling with George Clooney,*saying the incident was*blown way out of proportion by the media.

"The fact is that it's news all over the world," she said of DeVito's intoxicating appearance. "You know, you can imagine in China it's like, 'Ching chong, ching chong. Danny DeVito. Ching chong, ching chong chong. Drunk. The View. Ching chong.' "

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WuTspbPmV_g

Offensive? What say you?

Personally, I'd probably cut her a little more slack if it wasn't for her holier than thou, judgemental attitude when it comes to issues important to her, like Kelly Ripa saying something I've heard my entire life, in many situations regardless of sexual orientation; "I don't know where that hand has been" and turning it into one of the most ridiculous episodes in recent memory.

veinglory · Dec 11, 2006

It was less than classy.

billythrilly7th · Dec 11, 2006

veinglory said:
It was less than classy.

I think that's fair.

Not in the most egregiously offensive episodes of all time a'la Michael Richards, but "less than classy" for sure.

dclary · Dec 11, 2006

billythrilly7th said:
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=02ce57a7-b9b2-4af1-acb5-37cab91b7f75&entry=index

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WuTspbPmV_g

Offensive? What say you?

Personally, I'd probably cut her a little more slack if it wasn't for her holier than thou, judgemental attitude when it comes to issues important to her, like Kelly Ripa saying something I've heard my entire life, in many situations regardless of sexual orientation; "I don't know where that hand has been" and turning it into one of the most ridiculous episodes in recent memory.

LOLOLOLOL. That's actually HILARIOUS (if you're me. But I'm not asian.)

billythrilly7th · Dec 11, 2006

dclary said:
LOLOLOLOL. That's actually HILARIOUS (if you're me. But I'm not asian.)

I have a feeling this version might have been made by an Asian. I can't say I don't enjoy the tagline at the end. It says it all as far as I'm concerned regarding the hypocrisy that is Rosie.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mzPBk1p37Zw&mode=related&search=

maestrowork · Dec 11, 2006

Not funny.

What if I say, "Somewhere in Texas" and proceed to make baboon noises?

Sorry, Rosie, you screwed up.

billythrilly7th · Dec 11, 2006

maestrowork said:
Not funny.

What if I say, "Somewhere in Texas" and proceed to make baboon noises?

Sorry, Rosie, you screwed up.

Lock thread.

Bartholomew · Dec 11, 2006

maestrowork said:
What if I say, "Somewhere in Texas" and proceed to make baboon noises?

Well, I'd laugh...

dclary · Dec 11, 2006

maestrowork said:
Not funny.

What if I say, "Somewhere in Texas" and proceed to make baboon noises?

Sorry, Rosie, you screwed up.

Maestro, I have to disagree with you here, because if someone wants to joke about what folks are saying in a different language, and you don't speak that language, you have to simulate it.

And if you're a comedian, and need to simulate it, you might as well simulate it humorously, and get a double whammy joke in there. Many of my Korean friends agree, if you want to make fun of the chinese language, you say "Ching chong! Ching ching chong!"

"Good god! Is he choking to death?!?! No! He's speaking French!" -- Steve Martin, Wild and Crazy Guy Album

"Howdy. Howdy. Howdy." -- Cows pretending to be Cowboys, Gary Larson, Far Side

There's no offense meant here. It's just another example of over-sensitivism nuking a comedian for something that used to be (and oughta still be) considered funny.

Opty · Dec 11, 2006

Wow, I actually kind of agree with Dave.

Time to put my tin-foil hat back on.

billythrilly7th · Dec 11, 2006

Quite frankly, regardless of whether this was offensive or should be offensive to Asian or not or to what levels our Rosie can be a hypocrit...

Rosie is supposedly a world class comedian.

I haven't seen a "Ching chong ching" bit like that since I was in the third grade or so.

Since I can't be offended as an Asian, I'm pretty sure I'm offended as a comedy writer.

veinglory · Dec 11, 2006

Ching chong doesn't even roughly approach the sound of Chinese or pretty much any Asian language, it is however what arsehats in my neighbourhood typically chanted while harassing and terrifying immigrants from Laos and the Phillipines, traditionally whilst doing that hilarious thing where you pull your eyelids to the side to "simulate" Asian appearance. It has gone the way of blackface and the big rubber Jew-nose as a comedy staple.

dclary · Dec 11, 2006

The origin of the phrase is not known with certainty. However, since syllables sounding like what an English speaker would pronounce as "ching" or "chong" are relatively common in Cantonese, the expression is likely an attempt to mock Chinese speech patterns.
One possible origin of the word is that of a bastardization of the Chinese Noun Chin Chow, (清朝) which literally translates as "Ching Dynasty." The prevalant usage of this insult began during the gold-rush eras of 18th Century in Ballarat, Australia, when the Chinese gold-prospectors were of Ching Dynasty origin.
Sometimes "ching chong" is combined with "Chinaman;" the combination is often used in nursery-style rhymes, such as:

Ching Chong Chinaman sitting on a fence
Trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents.
Along came a choo-choo train,
Knocked him in the cuckoo-brain,
And that was the end of the fifteen cents.

dclary · Dec 11, 2006

LOL... I love this bit of Ching Chong history:

In December 2002, the term gained international notoriety when National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal directed it, apparently in jest, at fellow NBA star and Chinese immigrant Yao Ming, during an interview on Fox Sports Radio. O'Neal was quoted as saying, "You tell Yao Ming, 'Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.'" Yao Ming responded with: "Chinese is a hard language to learn."

dclary · Dec 11, 2006

veinglory said:
Ching chong doesn't even roughly approach the sound of Chinese or pretty much any Asian language, it is however what arsehats in my neighbourhood typically chanted while harassing and terrifying immigrants from Laos and the Phillipines, traditionally whilst doing that hilarious thing where you pull your eyelids to the side to "simulate" Asian appearance. It has gone the way of blackface and the big rubber Jew-nose as a comedy staple.

As will all comedy, if the Sensitives continue to make policy.

maestrowork · Dec 11, 2006

Sorry Dave, Ching Chong simply does not sound like Chinese. It's a mockery. And Rosie O'Donnell should know better, and so should you.

It's no different than going up to a Spanish or Latino person and say, "macaca mama la caca sasa" or to a Japanese and say, "solly solly me speekie no engrish" -- stereotypes and mockery are not funny.

Like Billy says, she calls herself a world-class comedian but proceeds to make a stereotypical joke like that about another race. I, as an Asian-American, definitely do not find it funny.

Do you have a problem with that?

Tiger · Dec 11, 2006

I've noted that people who are used to taking offense often say the stupidest things--perhaps because they're not used to being the ones having to watch their language.

maestrowork · Dec 11, 2006

And I find it offensive that a non-Asian is telling an Asian "you're too sensitive."

OneTeam OneDream · Dec 11, 2006

but just imagine how tough it is being a straight white male in this country...

Tiger · Dec 11, 2006

dclary said:
As will all comedy, if the Sensitives continue to make policy.

I'm sorry, but where exactly was Rosie performing when she made her joke? I don't care if she's a comedian, she wasn't doing comedy at the time.

I'm not Chinese, yet I still got taunted with the same crap when I was a kid. It didn't matter to the boys and girls doing the taunting whether or not they understood the etiology or the history of the phrase. They didn't care whether such phonetic humor was even appropriate to use on a Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or other kid. There was nothing good-natured about it.

Do I think Rosie O'Donnel should be arrested for using such language? No. Do I think such speech should be banned? No. I do think however that she should eat the criticism she gets for it--because she does serve up quite a bit of her own.

-Dean

billythrilly7th · Dec 11, 2006

Tiger said:
I do think however that she should eat the criticism she gets for it--because she does serve up quite a bit of her own.

Well said.

But she isn't.

She doesn't feel she did anything wrong, but has no problem calling out Kelly Ripa for a benign "I don't know where that hand has been" statement.

Cindi Berger, publicist for*O'Donnell said, "She's a comedian in addition to being a talk show co-host. I certainly hope that one day they will be able to grasp her humor."

I think they grasped it, dope, but they didn't find it funny. Oh, they GOT IT.
Like I said, "ching chong ching" is elementary school level comedy. That's why it would probably bother me, although I can't say for sure, if I was Asian American. I'd probably been hearing that routine for about 30 years and having flashbacks to the playground and bus.

And then on her blog...

why did you think it was alright to mock Chinese people and the language on The View

it was not my intent to mock
just to say how odd it is
that danny drunk
was news all over the world
even in china

it was not meant to mock

Not meant to mock?

Well, I don't get that statement at all.

Thank you.

maestrowork · Dec 11, 2006

Exactly, Billy. That's old nasty stuff left over from a long time ago and every Asian-American boy or girl has grown up listening to that crap. So it's really not funny. It brings out a very sad, nasty history. Saying "Ching Chong Ching" is mocking. Sorry, Rosie.

Opty · Dec 11, 2006

maestrowork said:
stereotypes and mockery are not funny.

Boy, somebody should tell that to:

Chris Rock
Jeff Foxworthy
Jerry Seinfeld
Eddie Murphy
Richard Pryor
Cedric "The Entertainer"
Dave Chapelle
Larry "The Cable Guy"
etc.
etc.
etc...

Much, if not most, of comedy plays on stereotypes.

I understand what you're saying, and I agree with you (within the context of situations like those addressed in the "Language or Intent?" thread) but that one unqualified overgeneralization just sticks out to me like a sore thumb for some reason.

veinglory · Dec 11, 2006

OneTeam OneDream said:
but just imagine how tough it is being a straight white male in this country...

Do you watch the comedy channel? It still looks about 85% straight white men to me.

maestrowork · Dec 11, 2006

DrSpork said:
Chris Rock
Jeff Foxworthy
Jerry Seinfeld
Eddie Murphy
Richard Pryor
Cedric "The Entertainer"
Dave Chapelle
Larry "The Cable Guy"
etc.
etc.
etc...

Hmmm, there's a reason why I didn't find any of them, except for Pryor, funny as standup comedians when they mocked others.

The problem is, these guys mock themselves, much like Margaret Cho doing Asian jokes to mock herself. It's fair game and that's funny. You don't see Richard Pryor telling racist white jokes or Jeff Foxworthy telling Jews joke.

Offensive to Asians?

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