Asians insulted; Chris Rock went one joke too many at the Oscars telecast

Chris Rock's Asian joke fell flat

ASIANS were finally mentioned on the Oscars show last night (Feb. 28) but not in the way I expected.

Host Chris Rock and the writers apparently see the world in Black and White.

In show dominated by talk about diversity - or the lack of it - there was hardly any mention of Latinos or Asians. Only because the movie Revenant was nominated for Best Picture did Native Americans get mentioned.

But we cringed when Rock (or the writers) introduced the accountants from Price Waterhouse. Out came three Asian youngsters, perhaps 5-8 years old, thus playing up the stereotypes of child exploitation and math proficiency.

The celebrity-filled audience, perhaps a little sensitive because of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, laughed nervously.

Yeah, I know, Chris Rock loves to make people uncomfortable and maybe I'm making too much out of nothing. I still cringed.

"If anyone is upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids," said Rock.

And Tweet, they did:

Rock's opening monologue was hit and miss but he made his point about the lack of African/American nominees and opportunities.  Is Hollywood racist, he asks. Hell, yeah, but it is not “burning-cross racist,” but it was “sorority racist. It’s like: ‘We like you, Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa!’”

The camera obviously 

loves Chrissy Teigan,

absolutely glowing from

 her pregnancy. The 

camera kept panning

 over to her and hubby

 John Legend. After

 another joke that

 fell flat, the camera

 caught her reaction. 

The most effective bit was when he visited a theater in Compton and asked the moviegoers what they thought about the Oscar's Best Picture nominees. They hadn't even heard of them; illustrating the disconnect between the Hollywood movie makers and the real-people movie audience. Hopefully that opened some eyes of the executives at the major studios.

Oscar Notes:

Where was Ronnie Del Carmen? When Pixar's Inside Out won the Best Animated Feature, I was hoping Filipino/Ameircanl Carmen, who co-directed the movie with Pete Doctor, would stride up to the stage to receive an answer. Doctor accepted the award and there was no mention of del Carmen among the 'Thank you's" the recipients accepted the Oscars even though he helped write the storyline.

Pakistani/Canadian filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her short documentary, "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness." The film examines the case of an 18-year-old Pakistani girl who survived a brutal attack by her father and uncle bent on an "honour killing." Human rights groups estimate that about 1,000 Pakistani women are killed every year for "bringng shame" to their families. It was her second Oscar.

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.