Remember that wonderful Nickelodeon crossover Jimmy Timmy Power Hour? Where Boy Genius Jimmy Neutron teams up with Timmy and his Fairly Oddparents to defeat made scientists/fairies/random enemies from taking over the world and enslaving humanity?
Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, meets Timmy Turner, Boy...er, just Boy, I guess.
Well, that has absolutely nothing to do with what our topic here today, except for the fact that "Jimmy Kimmel" reminds me of "Jimmy Timmy."
So now, without further ado, our take on the Jimmy Kimmy--er, sorry, the Jimmy Kimmel--controversy.
So now, without further ado, our take on the Jimmy Kimmy--er, sorry, the Jimmy Kimmel--controversy.
The Basics
By now, a large percentage of the Chinese demographic has been made aware of the Jimmy Kimmel “Killl all Chinese” controversy. For those who are still unaware of this issue, here is a quick summary: a child, apparently named Braxton, on Jimmy Kimmel’s show proclaimed that the solution for the United States to avoid paying their debt to the Chinese government would be to exterminate the people living in China, the Chinese population grew angry and demanded justice, with many protestors proclaiming Jimmy Kimmel to be akin to Adolf Hitler.
Google Image "jimmy kimmel chinese" and this is what pops up. Hmm...
If you'd like to see the skit for yourself, the following YouTube video shows a low-quality clip of it. With Chinese subtitles, since this was taken by a Chinese show. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, ABC has already taken down all of the official copies of the skit and stopped it from ever rerunning after the reaction from the Asian community. The only reason I found this was because erasing something completely from the Internet nowadays is a feat second only to Hercules' labors, especially something that has received so much attention.
Jimmy's Kerfluffle
The complete lack of judgment on the part of Jimmy Kimmel and ABC in airing the segment is undeniable. But is the Chinese community's outraged protests the right way to go about it?
Let's look at the results. Jimmy Kimmel has apologized (insincerely). ABC has apologized (but only after backdating their apology, so again, insincerely). The Chinese government and United States government have gotten involved (to some degree). But the only major result from the protests? Jimmy Kimmel's show shooting up in its ratings.
So, really, what did the Asian community win?
Some might even say that this controversy has been blown out of proportion by the Chinese community. A formal apology from the host is reasonable, but demanding the is stretching it a little bit. It is understandable why these protesters feel that the U.S. media has been disrespectful to Chinese, but demanding that the many employees of the show lose their jobs simply due to a comment made by an unaware and ignorant child and the subsequent lack of judgment in airing the segment is an overreaction and a completely unreasonable demand. Not to mention, ABC and its parent company Disney are even more unlikely to fire Jimmy Kimmel after his sudden boost in ratings (viewers love controversy, after all. It's the first rule of business).
We need social change. There are definitely oversimplified stereotypes of East Asians in media (often portrayed as shy, quiet, nerdy, essentially an intelligent hive-mind) that underscore the general lack of respect toward the demographic, but this standalone case is not a platform for creating social change.
Let's look at the results. Jimmy Kimmel has apologized (insincerely). ABC has apologized (but only after backdating their apology, so again, insincerely). The Chinese government and United States government have gotten involved (to some degree). But the only major result from the protests? Jimmy Kimmel's show shooting up in its ratings.
So, really, what did the Asian community win?
Some might even say that this controversy has been blown out of proportion by the Chinese community. A formal apology from the host is reasonable, but demanding the is stretching it a little bit. It is understandable why these protesters feel that the U.S. media has been disrespectful to Chinese, but demanding that the many employees of the show lose their jobs simply due to a comment made by an unaware and ignorant child and the subsequent lack of judgment in airing the segment is an overreaction and a completely unreasonable demand. Not to mention, ABC and its parent company Disney are even more unlikely to fire Jimmy Kimmel after his sudden boost in ratings (viewers love controversy, after all. It's the first rule of business).
We need social change. There are definitely oversimplified stereotypes of East Asians in media (often portrayed as shy, quiet, nerdy, essentially an intelligent hive-mind) that underscore the general lack of respect toward the demographic, but this standalone case is not a platform for creating social change.
The Undying Chinese
One of the many, many responses of the Chinese community (which include everything from picketing ABC, to boycotting its parent company Disney to signing a White House petition demanding a response from the federal government) to the Jimmy Kimmel was a short animation produced by Chinese netizen @抽屉新热榜, discussing why it is such a bad idea to kill the Chinese. It shows an interesting perspective through cartoons and statistics about Chinese history, and those who have, in reality, tried to kill all Chinese.
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