Fox News meets with Asian/Americans over offfensive Chinatown report

O'Reilly Factor 'reporter' Jesse Watters tried to interview a non-English speaking passerby in 
New York's Chinatown in his racially offensive segment.

By Louis Chan
REPRINTED FROM ASAM NEWS

TWO FOX NEWS executives met with representatives of the Asian American Journalists Association and other groups in New York yesterday (Oct. 25).

The meeting was called in response to the huge backlash after Chinese seniors were ridiculed and several stereotypes were resurrected on a Watters’ World segment aired during The O’Reilly Factor October 3.

The groups presented Fox with an open letter signed by 134 national, state and local organizations demanding a written apology to the AAPI community, diversity and sensitivity training at Fox News, a multi-part story more fairly representative of the Asian American community produced in consultation with veteran AAPI journalists, a commitment to double the number of AAPI guests on Fox to 4 percent and to increase the number of AAPI producers and reporters to 10 percent, and a commitment to meet annually with the AAPI community.

RELATED:

• Racist video spurs Chinatown forum; Fox a no-show
• Comedian gives response we want to say to Fox

The meeting was private and there was no public comment from Fox News. The names of the Fox representatives were also not released.

The tone coming out of the meeting from the AAPI groups was overall positive.

“The meeting was an open dialogue between the community and Fox News and we felt it was productive,” said Paul Cheung, president of AAJA, to AsAmNews.

“I sincerely hope that today’s events lay the groundwork for a fruitful and lasting conversation between Fox News and the AAPI community on issues of inclusion and diversity,” added Jenn Fang of the blog Reappropriate.

“We appreciate the opportunity to meet with Fox News today,” said Karin Wang, Vice-President of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles. “The segment clearly struck a nerve with Asian Americans of all ethnic backgrounds and reached far beyond New York City. We have conveyed this widespread and national anger and frustration to Fox News executives and we look forward to their response.”

Christopher Kang, National Director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans echoed those sentiments.

“The outpouring of support for this call to action–from across the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, including many student organizations, and beyond–is a powerful demonstration of the widespread outrage and hurt this racist segment has caused.”

New York Assemblymember Ron Kim also attended the meeting. He told The Washington Post that both sides have committed to meeting again in November. He said that the group presented the men with the open letter, and that they were “taken aback” by the display.

The person from the news side of the channel, said Kim, “tried to empathizse with the community’s anger and frustration and figure out ways to continue to meet in a structured way to promote some of the lack diversity and how we can alleviate that as a community.”

Among the specific points raised by the group was the diversity of voices on Fox News.

Kim said that the network is particularly deficient on this front with respect to Asian-Americans on its broadcasts. “They’re very agreeable to increase that number,” says Kim.

Kim came away thinking that the two Fox News reps “didn’t understand the gravity of the situation.”  (Views From the Edge contributed to this report.)

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Comedian says what we all want to say to host of racist segment on The O'Reilly Factor

Screenshot

The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng interviews a person in New York City's Chinatown.

THE HORRENDOUS offensive racist interview conducted by Jesse Watters on the Fox Network's The O'Reilly Factor brought an immediate backlash from the AAPI community, a half-hearted apology from Watters and the story isn't over.

On Thursday evening, fighting fire with fire,  The Daily Show’s senior media correspondent Ronny Chieng delivered a beautiful response that all of us want to say to Watters.  He hurled an avalanche of insults at the so-called comedian (who has not tweeted since half-apologizing on Wednesday). 

“If you’re going to be racist, at least get your stereotypes right, you ignorant sack of shit!” Chieng said. “Karate isn’t Chinese, it’s Japanese, and you’re doing it in a Tae Kwan Do studio which is Korean, you f--king jack-off!”

Chieng then proceeded to interview some Chinese passers-by in Mandarin and Cantonese and received some cogent and politically knowledgeable responses including the final interview that was probably a scripted set-up. 

When asked about Watters, the man responded:

“The chickenshit reporter who came down here?” the man asked Chieng, in reference to Watters’ segment. “The one who was sent here by the larger chickenshit who didn’t come to Chinatown because he was afraid to do it himself? The one with no testicles, the one who came down here and said, ‘Let me talk to some old people, let me put them on camera without asking them, and put them on national television and make fun of them in the worst possible way?’ That asshole?”

Watch it here:

The Asian American Journalists Association wrote to David Tabacoff, executive producer of The O'Reilly Factor on Wednesday to protest the skit and Tabacoff responded by inviting AAJA President Paul Cheung to appear on the show on Friday.

The journalists' organization declined the invitation but in turn, invited Tabacoff to have a dialogue with the AAPI community in a town hall slated for Sunday. "We believe meaningful engagement can occur only if there is significant dialogue not just with us, but with the broader community," read the AAJA statement.

The town hall will take place Sunday (Oct. 10) between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. EST at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York's Chinatown.

“We encourage Jesse Watters, his producers and other Fox News staff members to attend,” the organization stated.

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