Will Kumail Nanjiani's SNL gig break down stereotypes?

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Kumail Nanjiani hosted "Saturday Night Live."

KUMAIL NANJIANI made the most of his stint as guest host on Saturday Night Live, last night (Oct. 14) let's hope it opens the doors for other Asian American performers.

He wasn't afraid to make the primarily white viewership a bit uncomfortable touching on topics other comedians have not gone:

• He's Muslim;
• He's an immigrant;
• He married a white woman;
• The Koran on women drivers;
• Sikhs mistaken as Muslims

SNL has gotten so comfortable in the Trump era; it needs to shake things up, like having an Asian American hosting the venerable satiric show.

Nanjiani is the second Muslim and South Asian to host SNL after Aziz Ansari did the job earlier this year. In its 42-year old history, Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan are the only other two Asian Americans to do the show's  opening monologue and Samoan/American Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson did the job last May.

What?! SNL can't find any AAPI performers? Why hasn't Margaret Cho ever been called? Or, Ken Jeong? Or, Constance Wu? Or, Randall Park? All of the aforementioned entertainers have proven comedic acting resumes.

Is there a clause in the Comedy Central contracts that prevent's SNL from calling on Hasan Minhaj or Ronny Chieng?

Here's thinking out of the box: John Cho. Remember, he got his first big break starring as a stoner in the stereotype buster Harold & Kumar comedy franchise.

Since we' brought up Harold & Kumar, what about Cho's costar and fellow stoner Kal Penn, whose credentials include working in the White House.

Hailee Steinfeld and Vanessa Hudgens, both singers and actors, have proven themselves as more than capable hosts, doing the emcee chores for Billboard's Women in Music last year and the Billboard Music Awards this year respectively. Both have substantial fan bases  in that critical Millennial age bracket and they go beyond the just the Asian American community.

At any rate, let's hope that Nanjiani's and Ansari's successful stints opens some eyes at Saturday Night Live that AAPI performers can be funny, hip and express themselves beyond being "inscrutable."
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For real - #StarringJohnCho

IT'S A CASE of life imitating art. The internet viral sensation #StarringJohnCho -- where actor John Cho's face was superimposed on popular movie posters in order to show the plausibility of more diverse casting in Hollywood movies -- has come true.

Paramount has released three new character posters to promote the upcoming release of Star Trek Beyond. Today’s posters feature Simon Pegg as Scotty, Zoe Saldana as Uhuraand John Cho as Sulu.

Cho's image is one of the very few times an Asian male was prominently promoted in order to sell a movie. The only other Hollywood distributed movie that featured an Asian male actor in its PR materials was Enter the Dragon featuring martial artist Bruce Lee.

The new posters follow the same aesthetic style of those released last week. Posters with McCoy, Jaylah, Spock and Chekov were unveiled on Wednesday and Thursday, in addition to a colorful international poster, last Monday.

RELATED: AAPI decry whitewashing of Asian roles

The lack of diversity in U.S.-made films has been a topic of discussion in the movie industry for several years but really picked up steam last year when the Academy Awards didn't nominate a single actor of color for an Oscar. The 2015 Oscars spawned the Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.

RELATED: #OscarsSoOffensive

#OscarsSoWhite became a more topical issue this year when the actors of color were excluded again. However, a pair of tasteless jokes against Asians during the awards show sparked a rare outcry of protest from the AAPI community. 

RELATED: That's a rap for $StarringJohnCho

The last straw appears to have occurred when several movies that had Asian roles in the source material of the comics and anime were given to white actors. AAPI actors began speaking out and articles about the protests began appearing in mainstream media giving birth to #StarringJohnCho, which in turn inspired #StarringConstanceWu.

Star Trek Beyond, which was directed by Asian/American director Justin Lin, will be released July 22.

That's a rap for #StarringJohnCho

AS A PARTING shot, on the last day of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month and enter into a new month, we present a fun little video. 

(Warning: Some of the language used in the video may be offensive to some.)

By Louis Chan
Reprinted from AsAm News

Korean/American rapper Dumbfoundead, AKA Jonathan Park, is taking the #StarringJohnCho concept to the next level.

The Koreatown-based musician took classic Hollywood scenes from both the big screen and television and superimposed his face on top of the White male stars.

“After the last Academy Awards and the regular whitewashing of Hollywood roles, I wrote this song and made this video to add my piece to the conversation,” said Dumbfoundead on Facebook and You Tube. “Thanks guys! New album coming out in July!”

RELATED: The Man Behind #StarringJohnCho

His song Safe is described as a counter to how Asians and Asian Americans are perceived–the model minority that will “take it and smile, the punching bag of America.”

Safe is produced by Denny Kim and Kirby Lee and executive produced by Park.

“Park embodies the qualities that #StarringJohnCho communicates: a lead with charisma, presence, and bankable talent,” said William Yu, the man behind #StarringJohnCho and a digital strategist from Massachusetts. “I personally think it is furthering the conversation of Asian American visibility. The song tackles the negative ways in which Asian Americans are perceived today.”

RELATED: The weird history of Asian sex stereotypes.

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