Read here for OCA National Press Release
5 October 2016
CONTACT: Nick Lee | Communications Associate
202 223 5500 | nlee@ocanational.org
[Click here to watch the offensive segment.]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is disgusted by a grossly offensive Bill O’Reilly Chinatown segment that aired on the Fox News Network.
On Tuesday, The Bill O’Reilly Show sent reporter Jesse Watters to “investigate” the effect of criticism of the Chinese government in the current election on Chinese Americans in New York City Chinatown. However, Jesse Watters reporting resulted in demeaning stereotypes of the local Chinatown community rather than investigation of the story at hand. The segment repeatedly mocked community members that could not speak or understand English, conflated Japanese and Chinese cultural institutions, fetishized and sexualized Asian culture, and continuously highlighted stereotypes as wholly representative of the Asian Pacific American community, such as martial arts, massage parlors, accents, and herbal medicine shops.
“This segment was grossly offensive to Chinese Americans and all Asian Pacific Americans who have ever had to suffer through the many false equivocations and damaging stereotypes that were mentioned in rapid-fire succession during the show,” said Leslie Moe-Kaiser, OCA National President. “By going to the Chinese American community under the auspices of journalism and then unleashing a barrage of offensive stereotypes, Bill O’Reilly, Jesse Watters, and Fox News have completely trivialized the community’s view on this important election. At a time when politicians have fallen back on xenophobia to get ahead in the polls, it is disheartening to hear such offensive behavior come out of the media even as our power in the political process grows. Fox News should immediately disavow the segment and apologize to the Chinese American community for making a mockery of their language, culture, and political views.”
OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national organization of community advocates dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs).
