Pasadena Congresswoman Outraged by Comedy Skit She Calls Derogatory, Stereotypical

Congresswoman Judy Chu of Pasadena expressed outrage Thursday over a segment featured on Bill O’Reilly’s show that depicted Chinese American voters in what she said was a derogatory stereotypical fashion.

The segment — broadcast on Fox News — sent interviewer Jesse Watters into New York City’s Chinatown to interview Chinese Americans about the upcoming presidential election and repeatedly made them the butt of jokes. The segment drew widespread criticism.

Rep. Chu serves as the Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

“This segment openly objectifies and ridicules Asian Americans,” Chu said in a statement. “We see over four minutes of Asian stereotypes, and multiple clips of individuals who are made fun of just for being Asian.”

Throughout the video, Watters was seen asking Asian women if he was ‘supposed to bow to say hello’ as a greeting, mocking their New Year and traditional herbal medicines and mimicking martial arts and dance moves perceived to be “Chinese.”

According to Chu and many other dissenters of Watters’ interviews, it was insensitive for Fox News to air such a segment on their network. Furthermore, Chu said it wasted a good opportunity to actually understand the opinions of Asian Americans in terms of November’s upcoming election.

“As the fastest growing racial population in the United States and an increasingly influential voting bloc, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders deserve better coverage than being the butt of a joke,” Chu said in the press release. “This segment was an opportunity to create greater understanding, but instead, it marginalizes Asian Americans. I call on Fox News to stop such racially insensitive coverage from being aired on their network in the future.”

According to data compiled by Asian Americans Advancing Justice, there are currently 9.3 million Asian Americans eligible to vote, a 1.3 million increase from 2012.