UPDATE: Wong has since issued an apology and removed both videos from his social media channels.
Derek Wong must be pleased with himself. The two-bit actor’s finally got what he’s so obviously wanted all this time — attention.
Although, somebody should tell him that there is such a thing as bad press. Earlier this week, the 35-year-old moron uploaded a video parody of the viral hit “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen“, because nothing screams “I’m dying to be relevant” like trying to piggyback on a meme one month too late, right?
Wong, who we thought had already mined the PPAP meme for all its worth with his admittedly funny and profane “Learning Cantonese” parody, released his offensive new clip, titled “PPAP Indian Auntie” on Wednesday.
In it, the Hong Kong-Chinese actor dances around in brownface and a sari, while singing racist lyrics in a horrendously crap attempt at an Indian accent.
“I have a pan-ne, I have an apple-le, eugh, apple-le pan-ne,” he warbles, while bobbing his head. “Pan-ne pineapple-le apple-le pan-ne.”
And because hell is endless, he starts all over again, saying, “One more time!” before inexplicably hiking up his skirt, rubbing his legs suggestively, and singing, “Indian auntie”.
In case you were thinking, “Okay, the brownface is pretty bad, but at least the lyrics weren’t, like, overtly racist,” then we’ve got news for you. The human embodiment of an Instagram bindi then talentlessly drones through a second parody of PPAP, this time with chicken curry and mango lassi.
(At this point, we’ve got to ask: Why did we need two variations? We’d like to know, Wong, did you really think the world needed a double-fucking-whammy of this bullshit?)
“Chicken curry, mango lassi. Eugh!” sings Wong. “Don’t be afraid to shit yourself after drinking lassi.”
Wong later released a follow-up video in character as “Indian Auntie”, in which he rambled about how Bollywood films feature “200 or so relatives [of the main character] from god knows where, who just turn up and start singing, then just disappear again”.
In the video caption, Wong claimed that he learned his Indian accent from Indian friends he made while studying in the U.S. We guess that makes it okay, then?! (Hint: no, no it does not. Even if it’s true, which we doubt, it does not.)
It’s ridiculous to us that this even has to be said in 2016, but blackface — or brownface, or yellowface — is not okay. This is something that seems apparent to us.
Turns out some people — namely Wong, all the people who found his schtick funny, Cadbury, Carlsberg, and Hong Leong Insurace — haven’t yet got the message into their heads. Just in case you’re reading this, Derek, painting yourself to appear as someone of a different race perpetuates bigoted, hurtful stereotypes and undermines decades of social progress.
The clip was shared on the Facebook page of local newspaper Oriental Daily, which was previously thanked by Chief Executive CY Leung for reporting extensively on the issue of “fake refugees” in Hong Kong. It’s reviled amongst the community of asylum seekers in Hong Kong, and copies of the paper have been burned during anti-racism demonstrations.
Ironically, Wong has previously put on a one-man show called “My Very First Time”, which was described by the Wall Street Journal as a comedy-drama about “an Asian boy in the U.S. dealing with grief, sexuality, and racial discrimination“.
Pot, kettle, black.
Related articles:
Toggle takes down offensive episode of their original series featuring a Chinese actor in blackface
Cadbury HK releases tone deaf, racist clip advertising new flavours of Dairy Milk
Carlsberg Hong Kong finally removes racist ad it thought had already been pulled
Racist maid advert causes outrage
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