Asians & Asian Americans at the Billboard Music Awards

The Korean K-Pop group won Top Social Artist award.

A K-Pop group was named  the Top Social Artist award at the Billboard Music Awards last Sunday, and almost everybody on Asian internet sites starts talking about Asians getting noticed by the music industry. 

I don't want to take anything away from BTS accomplishment thus becoming the first K-Pop crew to ever win a Billboard award. They beat out some heavyweights including Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and Shawn Mendes.

BTS has a huge international following but are almost unknown in the U.S. and they were the fifrst K-Pop group to win the Billboard award.

Zayn Malik, former member of One Edition.

However, they were not the only other Asians or Asian/Americans at the awards show as some other writers seemed to infer. In fact,  Vanessa Hudgens, a Filipina/American, was in the middle of things during the entire show as the co-host. 

Zayn Malik, whose parents are from Pakistan, won the Billboard Music Award for Top New Artist. He was unable to attend the Las Vegas event, he tweeted, because he was working on a new set of songs.

Bruno Mars, another Filipino/American, was nominated in three categories. He livestreamed a smooth, sexy performance of "Versace on the Floor" from London where he was in concert.

Is that old debate of "Who is an Asian?" cropping up again? Is it because that Hudgens, Mars and Malik are not east Asian that they were were rendered invisible to the commentators?

Certainly, there could/should be more Asian/Americans up there on stage, but let's not forget to give credit to those who are paving the way for others to follow them.

Vanessa Hudgens with her co-host Ludicris.

Last Sunday, it was particularly difficult not to notice Hudgens, who used the emcee gig to remind everyone of the singing capabilities this young woman, a product of the Disney machine that keeps churning out stars. Hudgens made everyoen forget about the cancellation of her television series Powerless.

The former High School Musical star opened the show by taking co-host Ludacris' challenge to show off her her Nicki Minaj rhyme skills after the Monsta herself wrecked the stage with a killer medley. Then she switched gears and did a more than adequate job doing Celine Dion's "The Power of Love" crushing the soaring notes.

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Margaret Cho's 'American Myth' up for a Grammy

REPRINTED FROM ASAM NEWS

COULD THIS BE THE YEAR Grammy voters honor comedian Margaret Cho with her first Grammy?

On Monday (Dec. 6) she received her fourth Grammy nomination for her album American Myth in the category of Best Comedy Album.

The album features her song "I Wanna to Kill My Rapist."

Cho had previously revealed she had been sexually abused by someone she considered her best friend.

In an interview with AsAmNews she said “It’s more about murdering the rapist in your mind, so you stop killing yourself. Sexual abuse leads to self abuse, so it’s not about revenge. It’s more about stopping the cycle of abuse. The video is lots of kids in this action fantasy world and they’re beautiful – aged 4-18 -- all incredible martial artists, archers, knife throwers! It’s a masterpiece,” she said.

RELATED: Joey Alexander gets another shot at a Grammy

“This is an album of anthems and showcases my first efforts as a composer,” she said. “It is my glamorous and glittering tribute to family, comedy, anger, fame, gayness, grief, fat pride, love and hate.”

Cho also announced she will once again provide her commentary as the co-host of Fashion Police on January 9 on E! at the Golden Globe awards.

“It’s going to be a blast to be on the red carpet reporting on all the fashions first hand as an undercover (sort of) officer for Fashion Police!”

Zayn Malik voted Top New Artist; fashion oops & downs at the American Music Awards

Zayn Malik receives his award as New Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards.

BRUNO MARS, the Filipino/American R&B singer from Hawaii, got the American Music Awards off to a rousing start with his performance of his hit "24K Magic," highlighted by his electrifying choreography, a combination of James Brown, Michael Jackson and a healthy dose of Jaberwockeez. the Asian/American dance team

RELATED: Bruno Mars has quite a night on '60 Minutes' & 'American Music Awards'

Other Asian/Americans had their moments in the spotlight last Sunday, (Oct. 20) as presenters and award recipients.

Teen-heartthrob Zayn Malik was named New Artist of the Year for his first solo album after leaving the popular  boy group One Direction. He gave special thanks to his Pakistani father when he received the award.

"Standing here is crazy. My mom, my dad, everybody in my family that's been supporting me the past year, especially my dad. Thank you, Dad. Also, big thank you to you guys. I didn't expect anybody to still vote for me. So thank you, and I"ll put it on my fireplace." In his album he included a song in which he sang some of the lyrics in Urdu, his father's native language.

Olivia Munn with Silicon Valley's T.J. Miller presented the award to Tim McGraw for Favorite Country Singer. As they introduced the singer, they did a hilarious bit mocking award show presenters. 

The Chinese/American actress also got some attention she didn't necessarily want when most fashionistas put her on their lists of "worst dressed" celebrities wearing a Reem Acra floral ensemble. Apparently, Munn broke a fashion rule, wearing a mini, showing off a lot of leg, and also showed a lot of cleavage. In the fashion world, the rule is one or the other, but not both. (I don't make the rules.)

SCREEN CAPTURE

Chrissy Teigen's risqué dress.

On the other end of the fashion spectrum was Chrissy Teigen, who wore a floor-length black dress with two side-slits that were dangerously high, confirming that the Thai/American model was not wearing underwear. At least one photographer caught the wardrobe malfunction as Teigen walked the Red Carpet.

A wave of tweets criticized her and she responded as only Teigen can:  “I was walking. It floated. It’s over. I can’t take it back. Here is a formal apology. What else would you like?”

Teigen, who's been known to speak her mind, introduced her husband, John Legend, but couldn't help but turn the introduction into a political statement.

“What can I say? I’m very inspiring,” she said, according to Billboard, continuing, “but his songs are bigger than either of us and on the heels of what’s been a really interesting interesting f**ked up election for all of us, I think we could all use a little love tonight.” The awards show censors blocked her statement at "interesting" leaving the home audience wondering what she said.

She didn't apologize for the introduction.

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