The ‚ching-chong’ incident – a radio documentary

*This is not Mr. Liu speaking, FAKE!*

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Speaker

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. For this episode of ‘Asian American studies’ we are connected to John C. Liu, a New York City councilman, to talk about the so called ‚ching-chong’ incident.

John C. Liu

Good evening.

Speaker

Mr. Liu, could you tell us what happened?

John C. Liu

Well, on December 5th 2006, Rosie O’Donnell made a comment in regard of the appearance of Daniel DeVito at her show ‘The View’. She stated that she was astonished by the reactions and claimed that people all over the world were talking about Danny DeVito even as far away as in China. "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.'“. Many Asians and Asian-Americans all over the world felt offended by her.

Speaker

Yeah, I can see that. Besides other – Asian and Caucasian- people, you wrote a open letter addressed at her, too. Could you say a few words?

John C. Liu

Of course, I will read out a few passages:

"The 'ching-chong' bit is not a trivial matter, it really hits a raw nerve for many people in the community - many like myself, who grew up with these kinds of taunts. We all know that it never ends at the taunts."

“It's just stupidity, and it's stupidity that justifies a response," Liu said of O'Donnell's behavior, adding the comments came "from someone who has been indignant herself when it comes to comments made by other people where she has perceived it as being negative against a particular community… “

Speaker

…you are obviously alluding to her homosexuality…

John C. Liu

Yes, for me it’s just plain stupid, to be racist when it comes to an other culture, but to sue people if they say something negative about you own homosexuality.

Speaker

Needless to say. But you weren’t the only one who actually did something.

John C. Liu

Thank God not, there were several people who did something. For example Beau Sia - an Asian American slam poet- with a video titled “an open letter to all the Rosie O’Donnells” featured on YouTube and the Asian-American rapper Jin, who wrote a track about his feelings called “You’re fired” – not p.i.c. but I think that was just the younger generation talking.

Speaker

So there was a quite considerable media backlash. Did Mrs. O’Donnell apologize?

John C. Liu

She did. At first her response via her publicist was, "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." Later on she apologized, but you could tell that she did it because she had to and not because she wanted to.

But finally she apologized a second time, in February this year – about 2 months after her faux-pas.

Speaker

Thank you very much for having taken the time.

John C. Liu

It was my pleasure to contribute something to your show. Good Night.

Speaker

I will crosslink all the material we referred to at my website. That was ‘Asian American studies’.