Star-studded AAPI Inaugural Ball celebrates Kamala Harris' history-making inauguration

On the eve of the Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President, a host of Asian American and Pacific Islanders held the AAPI Inaugural Ball online.

The virtual event was organized by IMPACT and Run AAPI in coordination with the Presidential Inaugural Committee. It honored and recognized Biden and Harris, the first woman, first Indian American and first African American ever to be elected Vice President of the U.S.

Near the end of the virtual event Harris appeared and told her now-familiar story of being raised by a single mother, who immigrated to the U.S. from India.

Kamala Harris celebrated with the AAPI community the night before her inauguration Wednesday.

“My mother Shyamala Gopalan arrived in the United States from India,” Harris said. “She raised my sister Maya and me to know that though we may be the first, we should not be the last. And I have carried that lesson with me throughout my career.”

The hour-long Zoom celebration featured remarks from a wide array of AAPI political leaders, organizers and artists including OMB Director-designate Neera Tanden; Reps. Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Andy Kim, and Raja Krishnamoorthi; former Olympian Michelle Kwan; actors Kal Penn, John Cho, Kumail Nanjiani, and Chloe Bennet; and performances by Japanese Breakfast, Ari Afsar, and Raja Kumari. 

The celebration should be viewed on Youtube which allows the viewer to see the live reactions of those who tuned into the event. Link Here.

The virtual AAPI Inaugural Ball on Youtube includes responses from scores of viewers, right.

Twitter's #MyNameIs trend morphs into a campaign ad against Georgia's Senator Perdue

It is no longer any doubt that Georgia's Asian American voters are going to vote for the two Democratic candidates for Senate Jan. 5 next year. The only remaining question is: will enough AAPI voters turn out to make a difference.

Besides the huge question about the Republican incumbents' refusal to address accusations of insider trading from which both of the Georgia senators benefitted from, one of the reasons the AAPI vote is so overwhelmingly committed to the challengers may hinge on the perceived racial insensitivity of Perdue.

The Insider Advantage/Fox 5 Atlanta poll has Warnock, senior pastor at a civil rights landmark, the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, is ahead of Republican Kelly Loeffler by a 2% margin at 49%-47%. Incumbent Loeffler was appointed to the Senate when Senator Johnny Isakson resigned a year ago.

The same survey had GOP incumbent Sen. David Perdue ahead of Democratic rival Jon Ossoff, a media executive, by a razor-thin 1% margin,

The polls have both races within the margin of error so every vote will count in two races that could determine the ability of Joe Biden, the President-elect, to implement all his campaign promises and return the country to the realm of sanity.

Perdue's deliberate mispronouncing of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' name at an October rally for Donald Trump could very well may be the deciding factor for many AAPI people who have been humiliated or bullied because of their names.

"Ka-MAL-a, Ka-MAL-a or Kamala, Kamala, Ka-mala, -mala, -mala, I don't know, whatever," mocked Perdue drawing laughter from the partisan crowd.

For the record, Harris' first name is pronounced "comma-LA," which means "Lotus Flower" in Sanskrit.

Most Asian Americans who have a name that has been mispronounced, mocked or bullied in school can recall the sting of of humiliation or shame that arose when they were kids.

But when an adult of Perdue's stature does it, it is because  -- not having anything weightier to say -- he has to resort to the playground taunt. It is a tactic meant to "otherize" or underline the "foreigness" of the Vice President-elect and -- Ossoff, by association.

In a race as close as Perdue vs. Ossoff, a little incident like the mocking incident, could spell the difference between victory or looking for a new job.

A video clip of the incident went viral, drawing angry social media responses from the AAPI community carrying the #MyNameIs hashtag. Celebrities and politicians such as Daniel Dae Kim, Ilhan Omar, Michelle Kwan, Ken Jeong and more joined in sharing the origins of their names in solidarity with Harris.

The viral #MyNameIs social media response has been revived by Harris' niece Meena Harris and her Phenomenal Productions and the Indian American Impact Fund (IMPACT) for a series of pro-Democrat  videos launched last week. The videos will air online ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff election and during Georgia's early, mail-in  and absentee voting period.

"South Asian Americans helped build this country even though at times we've been pushed aside and put down or made into a punchline," Nanjiani says at the top of the video. "In 2020, when our leaders insulted and disrespected us, they know exactly what they're doing. And so do we," referring to castsing their vote for Ossoff.

Perdue's mockery of Indian American Harris comes on top of the racist rhetoric coming from the White House in referring tot he cornavirus as the Wuhan Flue or Kung Fu.

According to a report by United Nations officials, hate crimes against Asian Americans have reached an “alarming level” across the United States since 2016 due to the weaponizing of words by the Trump administration and his supporters like Perdue. These words negatively impact the AAPI community and were emboldened during the pandemic when the former host of The Celebrity Apprentice referred to the coronavirus as the “Kung Flu” and the “China Virus”.

IMPACT, an Indian American advocacy and political action committee, has donated a historic $2.5 million to the campaign.

The joke -- as it turns out -- may be on Perdue.

"South Asian and Asian American voters played a pivotal role in delivering Georgia to President-elect Biden and VP-elect Kamala Harris. An additional 42,000 AAPI voters voted in 2020 over 2016, and more than 30,000 AAPI voters voted for the first time ever. Biden won Georgia by just over 14,000 votes. But the work isn’t finished yet," IMPACT said in statement. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

AAPI celebrities celebrate Biden victory

Figures in the entertainment industry joined in with the rest of America in celebrating the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidates garnered enough electoral votes to claim the Presidency and Vice Presidency, respectively, of the United States.

Celebrities risked their careers by making endorsing the Biden and Harris ticket. 

Mindy Kaling, above, who recorded several videos with Harris voiced what many South Asians told their children, "She looks like us."

Action superstar Dwayne Johnson took heat from Trump supporters for his endorsement for the Democrat's nominees for President and Vice President. Already one of the top celebrity users of social media, the controversy ended up with the Samoan American getting more followers.

Cookbook author and international supermodel Chrissy Teigen wanted to celebrate so bad she went out to join the street celebrations with her husband John Legend by sitting atop their vehicle and waving to the celebrants.

Chloe Bennet (Agents of S.H.I.E.LD.) brought together AAPI actors and artists to create a new image of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Hollywood.

Padma Lakshmi, host of Top Chef, used her Twitter account to deliver her signature farewell to departing contestants. "Donald Trump, please pack you knives and go!"

Asian and Asian American celebrities speak out on injustice, racism, George Floyd

Henry Golding and his wife Liv Lo marched in Los Angeles.

The video-recorded death of George Floyd, is forever seered into the world's mind. Asian American celebrities have joined the movement against racial injustice, protesting against the prevailing systemic racism and voicing their opinions on social media, urging their fans to take a stand. 

Celebrities often get criticized for making political or controversial statements but they would not be human beings if they haven't been emotionally impacted by Floyd's death and formed some opinions on the subject of race in America, circa 2020. 

Actor Daniel Wu, creator and star of Into the Badlands, wrote an essay in  The Undefeated, (June 8, 2020), in a form of a letter to his late idol, Bruce Lee, in which he touched on the hate attacks against Asian Americans and protests that followed the horrific death of George Floyd at the hands of the police.

DANIEL WU

"Knowing that just my face alone can elicit so much hate, anger and violence is jarring. I am scared. Scared for the vulnerable. Scared for my daughter and her future in this country. And I am also angry. Angry at the systems in place that continually divide us. Angry that my status as an American is conditional. Angry that things haven’t changed. And this is just in the Asian American community. Recent events have shown that it is obviously far worse for the African American community, where hundreds of years of oppression have led to yet another killing of a black man at the hands of the police. It’s infuriating.

"I want to fight. Part of me wants to be provoked so I can lash out — smash them in the face like you smashed that sign to pieces. End it all with a flying kick. But this isn’t a movie and the solution is not as simple as knocking out the bad guy and saving the day. I initially started this letter hoping that you could impart your wisdom to me and tell me what to do in these dark times. But I understand what I need to do," Wu wrote.

"This pandemic cannot be knocked out with one swift kick, and neither can systemic racism. A small trickle of water can eventually cut through the toughest rock. It is constantly flowing and moving forward. When met with an obstacle, it does not stop but flows around it and eventually consumes it. When pushed, it moves out of the way but does not get pushed back. It can flow and it can crash and this is how we must face this fight. Whether white, black, brown or yellow, we must face these times with strength, empathy and compassion, and implore others to do the same while making sure not to get caught in the trap of becoming stone. We must remember that it’s imperative to join the other groups fighting this fight because they have been dealing with much worse for much longer, and only with solidarity can we form lakes and oceans to extinguish the flames of racism. 

In reference to his boyhood idol, Lee, Wu concluded, "Most importantly, as an individual, I must persevere and keep pushing, keep flowing. I must be water."

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Dwayne Johnson taped his post from his home in Los Angeles.

In a video posted on his Instagram account, action star Dwayne Johnson called out Donald Trump. In a powerful plea, the Samoan American called for change following Floyd’s death, asking for the country’s leaders to “normalize equality.”

“Past few days I’ve been stunned trying make sense of George Floyd’s death,” Johnson said via a post he shared on both Twitter and Instagram. “The video. The plea for breath. The callous response. The racism. The killing. This is our ongoing disease. I’ve had cops in my family. Good men. And there’s a cop code, granting you the authority to use force if your life is in danger. But when a man is handcuffed, on the ground, no longer a threat, with your brothers in arms standing around watching and he struggles to say, ‘please I can’t breathe’ when your knee is on his neck.. not his back, but his neck – cutting off his air. Cop code must become moral code. Ethics code. HUMANITY code.”

He went on: “Knowing that if you don’t ease up, then that man is going to die. So when you decide to not ease up, your intention is to kill. And that’s what this was. George Floyd, said ‘officer I can’t breathe’ as he struggled for air. He said these words a total of 15 times. Not once. Not twice. 15 times. These officers will be charged, I’m positive of that. Held accountable. But then where’s the greater accountability? The leadership to healing. More importantly, the leadership to EQUALITY. We ultimately win when we can normalize equality. I’m so sorry to the Floyd family. My heart breaks for you. Let the process begin now. #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #NormalizeEquality.”

Popular South Korean band BTS donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter (BLM) in support of U.S. protests against police brutality, its music label, Big Hit Entertainment, told Reuters on Sunday.

On Thursday, the seven-member BTS wrote on its Twitter account that they are against racism and violence with the hashtag BlackLivesMatter.

“We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence. You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together.”

The K-pop group donated $1M to Black Lives Matters and their fans, known as the Army, matched the donation in a matter of hours.

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, who has a following of 667,000, was a whirlwind of activity on her Twitter account. Here are some of her tweets:

In a recent tweet, Kumail Nanjiani said that the perspective of people towards police has changed after hundreds of videos surfaced on social media shows cops using ‘excessive force’ to bring the chaos under control. He further said that people who did not think police brutality was an issue, ‘now believe police reform to be essential’. Kumail Nanjiani's tweet has garnered over one lakh likes.

"End this race war here in the US, and around the world. Wherever you live, whatever your circumstances, NO ONE deserves to die, especially at the hands of another because of their skin colour," actress Priyanka Chopra (Quantico) posted on Instagram.

However, her comments came back to bite her when trolls called ehr out on social media for previously promoting an "intense fairness moisturiser".

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PRIYANKA CHOPRA

TGIF FEATURE: 'The Lovebirds' debuts on Netflix

The crime action/romantic comedy feature film, The Lovebirds, is available for streaming on Netflix today (May 22).

Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick) and Issa Rae (Insecure) portray a couple who experience a defining moment in their relationship when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As their journey to clear their names takes them from one extreme and hilarious circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they - and their relationship - can survive the night. 

The Lovebirds was originally expected to have its general release April 3 but the coronavirus took care of that. With social distancing guaranteeing a poor box office, the distributors decided to go strait to Netflix. 

While not top-tier superstars, both Rae and Najiani have enough name recognition and a fan base from their earlier works. It would have been interesting to see if the black/Asian couple could have had cross-over into the two movie-going audiences.

The movie is one of those films that probably wouldn't have been greenlit if not tor the box office success of Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians, opening a slew of Hollywood opportunities for films with non-white leads.

It could have been a version of the suburban couple in the big-bad city genre as depicted in The Out-of-Towners, but in The Lovebirds, race comes into play and what distinguishes the movie from others in that fish-out-of-water trope. 

"On my end, it was just acknowledging the fact that we were people of color. In reading the original script, it was clear that it was either for two white people or, just, 'anybody.' But given the circumstances, it was important to acknowledge who we were and our points of view in the world without beating anyone over the head with it," Rae tells the New York Times.

In the same interview, Nanjiani agreesL "I think I’m very aware of my race and how I’m coming across at all times. So we wanted this movie to reflect that it’s very different when it’s two white people being accused of murder and running from the cops as opposed to two people who are not white.

Sunday Read: With movie theaters shuttered, online and streaming fill the gap for Asian American programming

With the coronavirus rescheduling all the premieres and launches of Hollywood products, it looks like Asian March which initially had five Asian or Asian American projects debut on television or the theaters, has extended into May for an Asian Spring.

Netflix is now offering three promising AAPI projects, one of which is streaming right now, two that will premiere May 1, kicking off Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

The big change was delaying the general release of the live-action Mulan to later this summer. With the shelter-in-place mandates in the US and China, the blockbuster with an international cast of Asians and Asian Americans, would have failed miserably if it opened on the original March date.

Tigertail, streaming on Netflix

The big premiere in April was Tigertail, which opened April 7. Alan Yang's tale of immigration is loosely based on his father's journey to the US. The movie is just over an hour and a half and I wish it could have gone on for at least another hour to flesh out subtleties Yang offered in the stunningly beautiful film.

Much like the Chinese or Japanese scrolls depicting landscapes surrounded by empty space, a lot of Tigertail's power lies in those empty spaces, the closeup of the father's face as he seeks to forces his facial muscles to tighten in order to hide the emotions he dares not reveal, the silences between father and daughter that speaks volumes about the lifetime of tension between them.

This allows the viewer to fill in the spaces with their own experiences and emotions.  Perhaps this is why the film has had mixed reviews: Asian reviewers almost universally love the film but white reviewers just see emptiness and the missing parts of the story.

Receiving less press but perhaps more accessible to the non-Asian audience is the romcom The Half of It and Mindy Kaling's coming-of-age series Never Have I Ever.

A scene from 'Tigertail,' an Asian American story.

Ghost in A Shell 2045, streaming on Netflix 

Scarlett Johansson will not be in this latest iteration of the Ghost in A Shell. For the uninitiated, Ghost in the Shell is a long-running anime franchise that began its life as a cyberpunk manga in 1989, following a cyborg named Major Motoko Kusanagi who worked in a counter-cyberterrorist organization called Public Security Section 9. Notoriously, Paramount’s live-action adaptation of the story sparked controversy over the casting of Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi, clearly a Japanese character in the animated story. Hopefully, this new story will be just the thing for fans to put that recent film firmly in the dustbin of awful mistakes.

To call Netflix’s visual take on Ghost in the Shell different would be an understatement. The animated series has gotten a full makeover in the form of CGI that looks more suited to a Pixar film or a video game; it’s a beautiful, albeit drastic, change from the drawn animation most fans have come to know. In the first full trailer for Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, which is set to arrive this April, Netflix offers a full look at the cast, from Major to Batou.

Never Have I Ever, May 1, Netflix

Never Have I Ever is an upcoming Netflix Original coming-of-age comedy series co-created and written by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher based on Kaling's youth in Massachusetts. After a nationwide casting call, newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan was picked to play the lead.

This will be the first Netflix Original series produced by Kaling, who has previously worked as a writer and executive producer on The Office, and Fisher who has served as a writer on award-winning shows such as 30 Rock, The Mindy Project and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

'Never Have I Ever' is a coming-of-age story from an Indian American point of view.

The Half of It, Netflix, May 1

The Half of It is a movie that will begin streaming on May 1 to kick off Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

The feature flick is like a Cyrano de Bergerac situation with a modern-day twist. If To All the Boys I Ever Loved, a Netflix hit that was part of 2018's Asian August, was a teen romance fantasy, The Half of It presents a situation closer to the confusing, questioning reality faced by most Asian American teenagers.

Leah Louis plays Ellie Chu, a friendless and shy straight-A student who runs a business in school, making money off the students who want her to do their homework. She receives an unusual request from one of the jocks, Paul, to help him write a letter to Aster Flores, the girl he loves. The unlikely pair strike up a friendship, but it becomes extremely complicated when Ellie finds herself falling for Aster too.

Asian Americans, PBS, May 11 & 12

On May 11 & May 12, 2020 PBS will premiere Asian Americans, a five-hour film series that will chronicle the contributions, and challenges of Asian Americans, the fastest-growing ethnic group in America. Personal histories and new academic research will cast a fresh lens on US history and the role Asian Americans have played in it.

Led by a team of Asian American filmmakers, including Academy Award®-nominated series producer Renee Tajima-Peña (Who Killed Vincent Chin?, No Más Bebés), Asian Americans examines the significant role of Asian Americans in shaping American history and identity, from the first wave of Asian immigrants in the 1850s and identity politics during the social and cultural turmoil of the 20th century to modern refugee crises in a globally connected world.

“These are American stories: stories of resilience in the face of racism, of overcoming challenges as refugees from war and strife, of making contributions in all sectors of society: business, technology, military service, and the arts,” said Stephen Gong, Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media. 

Unladylike 2020, PBS, May 13

This series tells the stories of little known women who have had a big impact on the US. On May 13, the 1-hour epsode is about Tye Leung Schulze (1887–1972), the youngest daughter of low-income immigrants from China, escaped from domestic servitude at age nine and an arranged marriage at age 12. She began her career translating for victims of human trafficking in San Francisco’s Chinatown working for Donldina Cameron’s Presbyterian Mission Home. In 1910, she became the first Chinese American woman to work for the federal government, as assistant matron and an interpreter at the Angel Island Immigration Station, a detention center designed to control the flow of Asian immigrants into the US under the Chinese Exclusion Act. While there, she fell in love with a white immigration inspector, Charles Schulze, and married him against both their parents’ wishes and California’s anti-miscegenation laws. In 1912, one year after California granted women the right to vote, Leung became the first Chinese American woman to vote in a US election.

Burden of Truth, CW, May 21

Kristin Kreuk is back with her series, Burden of Truth, on the CW network. The series centers on attorney Joanna Hanley (Kreuk), who walked away from her partnership at a corporate law firm in order to figure out why a mysterious illness was afflicting high school girls in her home town of Millwood, Manitoba. By the end of season one, Joanna was estranged from her dad and changed her last name to Chang — her mother’s maiden name. In season two, she has joined a Winnipeg firm, where a new client involves her in a case full of political and cyber intrigue.

One thing to keep in mind when going over these offerings, while the choices for AAPI to find subjects or characters relevant to themselves may seem plentiful, these represent only a teeny, tiny portion of the products put out by the Hollywood dream factory. AAPI themes and characters are still woefully under-represented in the output coming from Toronto, Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles, centers for video and film productions for North America.

The Lovebirds, Netflix, May 22

Any movie with Kumail Nanjiani is a must for me because, well, he's like Everyman for AAPI guys. And he makes me laugh. 

Add Issa Rae and you know this is going to be a movie with a lot of POC inside jokes to make a serious point about interracial relationships and social inequities but have you laughing at the same time. 

Rae and Nanjiani play a couple who experiences a defining moment in their relationship when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As their journey to clear their names takes them from one extreme – and hilarious - circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they, and their relationship, can survive the night.

Originally set for an April 3 general release by Paramount, the coronavirus crisis forced a delay and then the streaming giant Netflix settled on an exclusive online premiere.

PLUS ...

With Asian American film festivals cancelled around the country due to the coronavirus crisis, communities will depend more on programs on television and online offerings to observe Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May.

Local PBS-affiliated television stations, such as:

• KQED in San Francisco,
• KCET in Los Angeles, 
• WTTW in Chicago,
• WNET in New York,

have their own individual programming for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and they vary from station to station. Check your local listings for more information.

'Little America' series tells stories of the humanity of America's immigrants you won't find in the news

KUMAIL NANJIANI

ASAM NEWS

A gay Syrian immigrant. A Ugandan baker. A 12-year-old Indian boy turned hotel manager. These are a few of the immigrant stories that Little America hopes to tell.
The anthology-structured series tells eight different immigrant-centered stories from around the U.S. It premiered Jan. 17 on Apple TV+, and has already been ordered for another season, Variety reported.

Known for his actor-producer role in the 2017 romantic comedy The Big Sick and as one of the protagonists in HBO’s Silicon Valley, the Pakistani American multi-talent brought in different directors and writers for almost every episode, hoping to tell stories that may be unique to American audiences.

For example, there’s an episode that revolves around Rafiq, a gay Syrian refugee in Boise, Idaho, struggling to find a community of his own. The stories intentionally take place in a variety of small town American settings.

“I grew up in Pakistan, and my America that I knew was from movies, which is L.A. and New York,” Nanjiani said in an interview with TV Guide. “And then when I moved, I moved to Iowa. And I remember being like ‘Oh, you guys did not advertise this part.’ I think pop culture usually portrays very specific centers, so that was also exciting was in the show to be able to show, somewhat ironically, more of America than people usually see in movies and TV shows.”

Nanjiani himself immigrated from Pakistan when he was 18. Although some of the stories will portray more formidable challenges, such as deportations, he said that the tone of the show is mainly “optimistic,” according to an interview in The New York Times.

“Listen, despite all the issues, I personally do feel optimistic about this country. It is my home, and I chose it to be my home for a reason,” Nanjiani said. “But I do feel optimistic in this country, and so the show obviously has that perspective in it, too.”

Although he and the other producers — including Nanjiani’s wife Emily V. Gordon, Lee Eisenberg, Alan Yang, Sian Heder, and Joshuah Bearman — are aware of the current anti-immigrant climate of America, they hope that the series will not be overly “politicized” and that the audience will focus on the stories and people.

Nanjiani, although not acting in this series, will be preparing for a role of his own: the first South Asian superhero onscreen in Marvel’s Eternals. He will be starring alongside Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, and Salma Hayek in the film, which will be released on November 6, 2020, according to Hollywood Reporter.

Little America is now streaming on Apple TV+.

What it takes to look like a superhero, six-packs and impossible diet

Simi Liu in shape for his role os Shang-chi and Kumail Nanjiani, ready for 'The Eternals.'

During the Unforgettable Gala honoring the work of AAPI actors and others in the entertainment industry, part of the entertainment was a comedic bit where host Simu Liu, Blues Clues host Joshua Dela Cruz, Grey’s Anatomy star Alex Landi and online personality Eugene Lee Yang all took the stage  to comment on mostly shirtless pictures of themselves from social media.

The six-pack, muscled torsos of the actors drew applause, ooh's, ahh's and nervous laughter at the apparent antithesis of the sexless, nerd stereotype draped on Asian men.

While shattering that stereotype is a worthy venture, we may be overreacting to that stereotype. We should be careful to not be promoting an image and standard that is impossible for most men to achieve. Like women have had to live up to the standards of skinny models with perfect skin promoted by fashion magazines, men can get hurt  trying to attain a new body image.

As if to underline the danger of living up to movie-star standards, a few days after the Unforgettable Awards, Kumail Nanjiani posted pictures of shirtless torso which drew a lot of "likes" from women and comments of approval and surprise at the previously healthy-but-normal bodied Nanjiani, who plays a tech nerd in Silicon Valley.

Nanjiani said he wanted a new ripped bod in order to look heroic for his upcoming role in Marvel's The Eternals. Along with the shirtless photos, Nanjiani made sure to let followers know that it took a lot of work and sacrifice to attain his new body.

"I would dnot have been able to do this if I didn't have a full year with the best trainers and nutritionists paid for by the biggest studio in the world," Nanjiani wrote. 

"I'm glad I look like this, but I also understand why I never did before," he continued. "It would have been impossible without these resources and time."

The desire to look like hyper-muscled supeheroes has also come at a cost: Male body image issues are on the rise, even among young kids.

The BBC reported in 2015 that health experts were worried about muscle dysmorphia, or so-called "bigorexia," among men.

"Muscle dysmorphia is a preoccupation with the idea that one isn't big enough, isn't muscular enough," Rob Willson, chair of the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation, told the BBC.

“We know about 10 percent of men in the gym may have muscle dysmorphia,” he said.

Dr. Michele Kerulis of Adler School of Professional Psychology told The Daily Mail that rate may be even higher: She claimed as many as 45 percent of frequent male gym goers male suffer from disordered body image.

Jason Momoa's Aquaman body (left) vs. his normal everyday physique.

A few months ago, when photos of Aquaman's Jason Momoa appeared online that showed him with less than a six-pack, several trollers began body shaming him, calling his physique a "dad's bod," (to which I took personal offense).

To Momoa's credit, when TMZ pressed the Aquaman star if he was “offended” about the body-shaming at all, to which he responded, “No. Not at all.” 

“Tell TMZ I’ll show ‘em my dad bod soon,” patting his stomach.

In order to get into shape for Aquaman, Momoa has to undergo a grueling workout regime and stick to a high-protein, no-fat diet, which is not sustainable, not to mention, unhealthy for long periods of time.

While the new image of muscular Asian American and Pacific Islander men is a welcome 180-degree shift away from the image of Long Duk Dong from 16 Candles, those six-pack abs come with a dangerous unhealthy price.

When Henry Golding took off his shirt in Crazy Rich Asians, women in the audience swooned and judging from the admiring tweets in response to Nanjiani's new physique, that "look" is appealing to a lot of people. We need to realize and accept that most men find themselves between those two extremes. Not all of us look good in spandex. And that's OK.

What's wrong with a "dad's bod," anyway?

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