I am a fan of Saturday Night Live, especially with last week’s impression of Governor Sarah Palin by Tina Fey. However, this past Saturday, I was offended – perhaps you were too. James Franco was the host, and he is currently a student at Columbia University in New York City, apparently to get his Master’s in Writing. Franco’s roommate is supposedly a “Ken Wo”:
“I got a great roommate named Ken Wo. He’s a bio-chem major. He’s here tonight… (camera on “Ken Wo” – audience laughter) You know, we have our arguments… He prints out his homework when I’m trying to sleep and I threw away his bed so my publicist could have a desk…”
Like Franco would actually be living in a Columbia University dorm room? Later, Franco’s “RA (Residence Advisor)” Craig shows up during the opening monologue and says:
“Come on man. Until you moved into Livingston Hall, I was top dog. It was just me and a bunch of dorks like Ken Wo. (camera on Ken Wo – audience laughter) – My bad, KWo, my bad.”
Come on Saturday Night Live (and the U.S. media)! Give us Asian American men a break. We *are not* all geeks and nerds who are pre-Med or engineering, etc. I had just previously written about Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles, and now I see this? Am I overreacting? As Angry Asian Man would say, “That’s racist.” (Hmm.. I wonder if Angry Asian Man will ever link to 8Asians…). Take a look for yourself and you decide here. (update: video taken down…)
