Both BBC 6Music and Ananova report that John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon wants Justin “The Former Mister Britney Spears” Timberlake to play him in a film based on his autobiography No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.
All reports say that Timberlake agreed to take the role under the proviso that Lydon stay off the set, to which I say “wuss”.
As I mentioned in my earlier entry on Details’ Gay or Asian? article, a
protest was scheduled to take place on Friday, April 16th outside the
Details offices in Manhattan. A Google news search found these articles
covering it:
According to the reports, about 200 people attended the protest,
which led Details’ editor-in-chief, Daniel Peres to make the following
statement:
“It has been made abundantly clear to me that this story, which is part
of an ongoing series challenging male cultural stereotypes, was
insensitive, hurtful, and in poor taste,” Details
Editor-in-Chief Daniel Peres said in a written statement. “There’s a
line that should never be crossed in any satirical humor, and Details crossed it. I, on behalf of the magazine, deeply regret this misstep, and apologize to those who were offended.”
The Advocate article reports that Details
will “run a full-page apology in an upcoming issue and move forward in a
more sensitive manner in featuring stories on lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgendered people as well as Asians and Pacific Islanders”.
I’ve never been terribly keen on the word “sensitive” in this sort
of context. It has a “poor widdle baby, can’t take a couple of barbed bons mots” pat-on-the-head connotation. How about “non-bigoted”?
In the meantime, thanks to how publications work and the magic of
lead times, Whitney McNally’s dead horse receives continued flogging.
May’s issue of Details has her latest ouevre, Gay or Socialite’s Husband?
Here are scans of her entire “Gay or…?” series, courtesy of the blog What Tian Has Learned:
Geez, and I thought the writers at Saturday Night Live were the kings of milking a joke long after it ceased to be funny. Whitney, you can take that crown now.
And what can be done about Ms. McNally (picture purported to be her, taken from the slam site whitneymcnally.com shown below)?
Hey, wait a minute…wasn’t she all over me at the For the Love of Breasts fundrasing gala?
A number of Asian and Gay advocacy groups have demanded that Details
fire her. I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do, as she’s only the
writer. Every magazine article is the product of a team of people, of
whom the writer is only one part. The “Gay or…?” series had to be
approved by a story editor, and each article submitted is probably
approved by a section editor and (at least in theory) the
editor-in-chief. The act of firing Ms. McNally in the absence of any
other sort of remedy merely opens the door for another like her to
replace the void left in her absence (although I suspect that her
presence is a void itself).
I can suggest three possible solutions:
editor-in-chief Daniel Peres, Whitney McNally, a high-profile gay man
and a high-profile Asian discuss the issue.
run a “Gay or Al-Qaeda?” article. (Probably unwise, as the resulting
“protest” will probably harm a lot of innocent people).
I will gladly volunteer my services for the episode in which they must
wrestle an Asian accordion player in a vat of creamed corn.
“If it bends, it’s funny. If it breaks, it’s not funny.”
— Woody Allen, Crimes and Misdemeanors
Before I get to the actual subject matter, let me begin with an aside.
Last night at Kickass Karaoke, we spiced up our friend Erik’s number. As he went onstage to perform The Vapors’ 80’s hit Turning Japanese, a half-dozen Asians (including me) formed a line behind him and stared him down in mock disapproval as he sang. It was a schtick that we played up for laughs, which we got in healthy amounts, and it was all in good fun.
We got even more laughs at the end of the number when I took the mic and said “Support your local Asian! We help you with your math homework and we keep the cell phone industry afloat!”
That bent. Quite well, I daresay. Keep the “Bent or broke?” question in mind as you read this.
Last week, while sifting through my “suspected to be junk” email folder, I found anonymous email pointing my attention to the now-infamous Details magazine piece from their April 2004 issue: Gay or Asian?, written by one Whitney McNally. Here’s a scan of the page on which it appeared:
I’ve included the full text of the piece below, since the scan isn’t at the highest quality setting, and for the benefit of search engines:
GAY OR ASIAN?
One cruises for chicken; the other takes it General Tso-style. Whether you’re into shrimp balls or shaved balls, entering the dragon requires imperial tastes. So choke up on your chopsticks, and make sure your labels are showing. Study hard, Grasshopper: A sharp eye will always take home the plumpest eel.
1. DIOR SUNGLASSES: Subs as headband and amplifies inscrutable affect.
2. RYAN SEACREST HAIR: Shellacked spikes, just like that crazy cool Americaaaaaaaan
3. DELICATE FEATURES: Refreshed by a cup of hot tea or a hot night of teabagging.
4. DOLCE & GABBANA SUEDE JACKET: Keeps the last samurai warm and buttoned tight on the battlefield.
5. WHITE T-SHIRT: V-neck nicely showcases sashimi-smooth chest. What other men visit salons to get, the Asian gene pool provides for free.
6. LADYBOY FINGERS: Soft and long. Perfect for both waxing on and wacing off, plucking the koto, or gripping the Kendo stick.
7. LOUIS VUITTON BAG: Don’t be duped by ghetto knockoffs. Every queen deserves the real deal.
8. EVISU JEANS: $400. A bonsai ass requires delicate tending.
9. METALLIC SNEAKERS: When the Pink Lady takes the stage, nothing should be lost in translation.
My first thought was “Someone got paid to write this? I’ve seen better paper after wiping my ass.”
(Even on a bad day and having drunk more than our fair share of beer, my buddy George and I were capable of far, far better back during our reign at Golden Words, the humour paper at Crazy Go Nuts University.)
Naturally, the piece has generated quite a bit of ire amongst various groups and associations of Asians and gays. In a Village Voice article, writer David Ng has suggested next month’s issue should feature a piece titled Racist Bitch or Whitney McNally?. Others have voiced their displeasure, including:
These groups are taking offense largely because it’s yet another incident of the demasculinization of Asian men in popular culture (there’s been much agonizing over this).
In the movies, the white hero and the black hero get at least one make-out scene with the girl, but never the Asian guy. He fills a certain small set of roles, and that’s about it. Just check any made-in-Hollywood movie where Jackie, Jet or Yun-Fat is the hero. As best as I can recall, the Asian guy didn’t visibly get the girl in an American movie until Dragon.
I’ll admit that Gedde Watanabe’s “Long Duk Dong” from Sixteen Candles — a movie that pre-dates Dragon by nearly a decade — did end up picking Joan Cusack, but he’s part of that unsexy Asian guy stereotype, a tradition carried on today by that bozo, William Hung, who’s not helping matters.
I am doing my part to change this image, but I’m just one man!
Tak Toyoshima, artist behind the comic Secret Asian Man, has come up with this response:
Others are responding a little more directly. There’s a protest scheduled for Friday, April 16th at 12:00 noon outside the offices of Details (7 West 34th Street — at 5th Avenue); details (hah!) are available here.
Not everyone in the Asian-American media is up in arms. Here’s a snippet from the New York Observer:
“Probably tens of thousands of Asian people bought Details because this came out,” said Erik Nakamura, editor of Giant Robot magazine. The item itself, Mr. Nakamura said, scarcely seems worth the trouble. “The Gay-or-Something joke is getting old anyway,” he noted.
Like Shaquille ONeal spouting ching-chong gibberish at Yao Ming, “theyre just guilty of making a crummy joke.”
[ via Ranting and Roaring ] The conclusion I draw from this finding is that ancient people “brown bagged” their lunches to save money too.
I can’t remember where I found this graphic, but I like it a lot:
For more about the activites of Diebold — which run the gamut from carelessness to sleaziness — check out Black Box Voting.
I always noted that there was something familiar about the writings of one Father Raymond J. De Souza — he read a little bit like one Ray De Souza, an economics major whom I knew from my old days at Crazy Go Nuts University. Ray and I met through our work at the Queen’s Journal
and if I recall correctly, I believe he enjoyed my comics (a
free-for-all equal-opportunity skewering of the student government),
and I think I remember saying something complimentary about his “the
Conservative Party will rise again” op-ed (written just after the 1993
elections, when they were reduced from the majority party to one with
two seats in the House of Commons).
(I think I also used to razz him with economist jokes.)
A little Googling confirmed my hunch: Father Raymond De Souza, contributor to the National Post, National Review
and other right-of-centre publications is the same guy as Ray De Souza,
Young Conservative About Campus and fellow member of the Crazy Go Nuts
University Media Mafia (a more politically-diverse group than you might
believe).
Ray’s still as strident as ever, and thankfully he didn’t become an economist. I’m going to have to drop the old boy a line!
