Asian stars in racial controversies: from Awkwafina’s ‘blaccent’ scandal to Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’s Jennie Nguyen getting fired for Facebook posts – who apologised, and who got cancelled?

Feb 15 , 2022

Several Asian stars have found themselves in hot water for controversies around race. Photos: @awkwafina, @jennienguyenluv/Instagram

K-pop idols including Mamamoo and RM of BTS blamed ignorance for controversial behaviour, including blackface and cultural appropriation of black hairstyles

Real Housewives star Jennie Nguyen and Awkwafina made matters worse with their non-apology responses to issues of prejudice and cultural appropriation

The Black Lives Matter movement got incredible support from K-pop stars and their fan bases in 2020 and, with anti-Asian attacks on the rise at the same time, many global stars spoke out against racism.

But accusations of cultural appropriation, insensitive comments and worse, both before and since the Black Lives Matter movement began, prove there’s still a lot of learning to do.

These Asian stars all got embroiled in racist controversies against black and African-American culture. Some apologised, but others got an even bigger backlash ...

Awkwafina quit Twitter after her “blaccent” non-apology

For years, Awkwafina has been criticised for her caricature-style “blaccent” (black accent, or using the speech patterns and language of African-Americans). Fans have pointed out that during promotional interviews for 2020’s The Farewell – for which she won the best actress Golden Globe – she dropped the accent. Later, during a press junket for Marvel’s Shang-Chi, she dodged a question about cultural appropriation.

The Crazy Rich Asians actress – real name Nora Lum – directly addressed the controversy on Twitter recently before quitting the platform. However, the New Yorker – who is of Korean and Chinese heritage – didn’t help her case as, while she referenced the “dominant” culture long exploiting the African-American community, she failed to admit her caricature of black culture helped her comedy, parody rap and acting career progress.

Instead, the Nora From Queens star, 33, was accused of making a “non-apology” as she insisted that to “mock, belittle or to be unkind in any way possible at the expense of others is: simply. Not. My. Nature. It never has, and it never was”.

Real Housewives star Jennie Nguyen was fired after her George Floyd posts

Jennie Nguyen from the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Photo: @jennienguyenluv/Instagram

The reality star only joined the Salt Lake City franchise in season two, but she has already been fired thanks to posts from 2020 that her own co-stars labelled “racist”. Nguyen posted on Facebook questioning the cause of George Floyd’s death after the African-American was killed by a white police officer; labelled anti-racism protesters as “thugs” and “violent gangs”; and called for a “White Lives Matter’’ movement in response to Black Lives Matter (started in 2013 after the acquittal of the shooter of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin, who was murdered in 2012).