Is this racist??

[The LoLRus]

Is this racist, or just honoring traditional Asian culture?? You could argue the guy with squinting eyes might be, but I dont think the 2 cute girls meant anything racist.
Sometimes people need to chill out a little and not see racism everywhere:

http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/toronto-nightclub-accused-of-racism-for-stir-fry-event

A Toronto nightclub is under fire after leaked photos posted to Instagram of an Asian-themed event on Sunday night went viral.

At the “Stir Fry” event held at Wildflower — located in the basement of the Thompson Hotel on Wellington St. W. — a staff member was photographed wearing a conical hat and fake facial hair while squinting his eyes. Another two servers were captured wearing kimonos with chopsticks in their hair.

The photos received a flood of angry comments and accusations of racism.

“Guess again! Good ol racism still at it! This is how the workers were dressed!” posted Freeza Chin, a local DJ who was not at the event.

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen it so blatantly displayed. I also find that for some reason this kind of thing against Asian people is almost more acceptable? Like imagine if someone threw a blackface plantation themed party or something? There would be riots.”

Other commenters didn’t hold back.

“Dude, it’s 2018, what a terrible team and company culture y’all must be fostering over there,” one person wrote.

“Wildflower held a yellow face themed event and has deleted multiple posts to hide the backlash WOW,” said another.

In an Instagram correspondence between a woman and one of the servers who was wearing kimonos, the white employee said she didn’t pick the theme. “You think I wanted to dress like that? No. I was told to. I posted this photo because it was a cute picture of me and my friend.”

Jooyoung Lee, an associate sociology professor at the University of Toronto, noted that at this time in history, Asian people are fighting for representation in Hollywood while many movies have a white actor portraying an Asian character. When events — such as the one at Wildflower — happen, it allows people to parody ethnicity, he said

 

[Don Draper]

Is it racist?

Depends on who you ask and how they see it. Is it 'tasteless' and 'lowbrow'? Absolutely, yes.

My lovely S.O. (who is Asian) saw these photos and thought the guy was "just an idiot" and the girls were "plain dumb". She didn't think that there was a malicious or racist intent involved in this but she did say she wouldn't be interested in "knowing or being friends" with any of these people who know that lame and old jokes of this sort always bite the person back in the ass instead of being funny.

 

[huckfinn]

Soon Halloween will be cancelled.....

 

[jackal2006]

@huckfinn hahaha. Yep this is the state of the world we are in. I'm sure Kathleen Wynne and her cronies are drafting up legislation to outlaw anything that is fun such as Halloween. In other news the Easter Bunny may be on EI soon because he is male and he makes more than the female bunnies even though he is more skilled and qualified and we cannot have that in Trudeau's Canada. Merit is a relic of the past.

 

[The LoLRus]

Soon Halloween will be cancelled.....

We're gonna have to get rid of Oktoberfest also. All those people wearing Lederhosen is highly offensive to Germans

 

[sempel]

The guy falls into the category. He's trying to pretend he's Asian using stereotypes. IMO similar to people wearing blackface.

The two girls IMO don't. I don't see any issue with someone wearing traditional clothing (unless it's Justin Trudeau et. al and it's a photo-op). Even the guy probably would have been ok if he didn't squint or draw on the eyebrows and moustache.

 

[sweetiepieexo]

I don't think this is racist - it is after all only a party theme. Next thing you know fear fest will be cancelled, Halloween & October fest. If people are going to accuse people of being racist they should at least educate themselves on the definition of racism.

 

[yomero5]

It is racist and offensive if you are Asian and the subject of this theme party. If you are not Asian, then you won't have the same reaction to it.

 

[TeeJay]

The edited picture of the guy squinting could have been snapped at any time (I mean cmon people do blink in normal day to day life)

The only question is whether wearing the clothes while serving stir fry is racist which seems pretty weaksauce

 

[sweetiepieexo]

It is racist and offensive if you are Asian and the subject of this theme party. If you are not Asian, then you won't have the same reaction to it.

The club clearly states that they had no INTENTIONS of being racist. They were simply doing a themed party called "stir fry" to honour the migos song "stir fry"
Below is a section of the article that I found interesting. Maybe if you guys read through it carefully you will understand that this was all done in good fun and was never intended to hurt anybody.


"“I understand why some people, usually white people will say, ‘Why do you take it so seriously? It’s done for fun’ — those individuals may not understand why it’s problematic and offensive because they don’t intend to be racist or discriminatory. These kinds of representations are connected to more pernicious kinds of racism and more explicit kinds of discrimination. They’re all on a continuum of misrepresenting people.”

The club apologized on its Instagram account the following day, but appeared to have deleted a few pictures promoting the controversial event.

“We executed poor judgment in the event concept and in our response afterwards. We will use this as an example to do better and think more carefully about our actions,” the club said"

 

[Velvets]

The club clearly states that they had no INTENTIONS of being racist. They were simply doing a themed party called "stir fry" to honour the migos song "stir fry"
Below is a section of the article that I found interesting. Maybe if you guys read through it carefully you will understand that this was all done in good fun and was never intended to hurt anybody.

Being racist doesn’t have to be intentional. What’s worse being racist intentionally or being racist and not thinking it actually is ? Haven’t you noticed ? ... Racists tend not to think they are racist because the racism comes naturally to them.
Wearing traditional dress is not racist and can actually pay homage to the culture.
The male depicted is not racist because of what he is wearing. The squinting and drawn on features are totally racist because he is exaggerating the stereotype. If he faked a Chinese accent then it would be even worse.
The women are not being racist simply by wearing traditional attire. I have no issue with that. If they tried to act Asian or fake Asian stereotypes then it’s different and becomes racist.
Wearing lederhosen isn’t racist because it’s payimg homage to the culture not making a joke of it ... that’s the difference. When you make a joke of a culture with a negative stereotype then it crosses the line.
Is it considered racist to wear blackface ? Yup.

 

[SlickRickBBD]

Being racist doesn’t have to be intentional. What’s worse being racist intentionally or being racist and not thinking it actually is ? Haven’t you noticed ? ... Racists tend not to think they are racist because the racism comes naturally to them.
Wearing traditional dress is not racist and can actually pay homage to the culture.
The male depicted is nor racist because of what he is wearing. The squinting and drawn on features are totally racist because he is using the stereotype. If he faked a Chinese accent then it would be even worse.
The women are not racist simply by wearing traditional attire. If they tried to act Asian or fake Asian stereotypes then it’s different and becomes racist.
Wearing lederhosen isn’t racist because it’s payimg homage to the culture not making a joke of it ... that’s the difference. When you make a joke of a culture with a negative stereotype then it crosses the line.
Is it considered racist to wear blackface ? Yup.

100% agree

 

[malata]

fuker has racism written all over his face

 

[yomero5]

Being racist doesn’t have to be intentional. What’s worse being racist intentionally or being racist and not thinking it actually is ? Haven’t you noticed ? ... Racists tend not to think they are racist because the racism comes naturally to them.
Wearing traditional dress is not racist and can actually pay homage to the culture.
The male depicted is nor racist because of what he is wearing. The squinting and drawn on features are totally racist because he is using the stereotype. If he faked a Chinese accent then it would be even worse.
The women are not racist simply by wearing traditional attire. If they tried to act Asian or fake Asian stereotypes then it’s different and becomes racist.
Wearing lederhosen isn’t racist because it’s payimg homage to the culture not making a joke of it ... that’s the difference. When you make a joke of a culture with a negative stereotype then it crosses the line.
Is it considered racist to wear blackface ? Yup.

I agree, 100%

Regarding Halloween, I would dress up as something scary, like a vampire or werewolf, not in ethnic costume, like an aboriginal chief, or a Cossack.

 

[huckfinn]

Wearing lederhosen isn’t racist because it’s paying homage to the culture not making a joke of it ... that’s the difference.

I think you may find some extremists that don't agree with this statement.

Perhaps someone thinks you are pretending to be German, and drinking a lot of booze is offensive to the German culture.

 

[The LoLRus]

Wearing lederhosen isn’t racist because it’s payimg homage to the culture not making a joke of it ... that’s the difference

And you think the 2 girls are making a joke of Asian culture??!! I highly doubt it.
In fact I think they look hot in those outfits.
If I saw them at a Halloween party I would never see them as racists.

Now the guy squinting his eyes, there you might have a case. But not the girls

 

[rhuarc29]

I don't consider the two girls racist in the least, but that's because I don't believe cultural appropriation is a thing. Or, at least, I consider the selective outrage hypocritical.

The guy's mockery of Asian physical attributes is tasteless, but I wouldn't consider it racist. Racism requires hatred or prejudice towards a group, not a tasteless joke.

 

[Velvets]

The guy's mockery of Asian physical attributes is tasteless, but I wouldn't consider it racist. Racism requires hatred or prejudice towards a group, not a tasteless joke.

A tasteless joke based on exaggerated racial stereotypes IS racism

 

[Velvets]

And you think the 2 girls are making a joke of Asian culture??!! I highly doubt it.
In fact I think they look hot in those outfits.
If I saw them at a Halloween party I would never see them as racists.

Did you read what I wrote ?
“The women are not being racist simply by wearing traditional attire. ”

 

[The LoLRus]

Did you read what I wrote ?
“The women are not being racist simply by wearing traditional attire. ”

My bad, I misread your post