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"what's a matter? You don't speak English?? Ching-chong-ching-chong"

Charlyne Yi has described a time when comedian David Cross made racist Asian jokes towards her.

In a series of Tweets, the actress, comedian, musician and writer described the first time she met Cross.

According to Yi, when the pair met ten years ago, Cross made fun of her clothing and asked her whether she could speak English.

“I think about the first time I met David Cross ten years ago & he made fun of my pants (that were tattered because I was poor),” Yi wrote. “Dumbfounded I stared at him speechless and he said to me “what’s a matter? You don’t speak English?? Ching-chong-ching-chong”.”

Cross’s inappropriate comments didn’t stop there. “Then after he saw I was offended he asked me if I was going to fight with him karate in a southern accent,” she added.

A few years later, Cross seemed to have forgotten who she was when he was re-introduced to her at one of her shows. “A few years later he was re-introduced to me after my comedy show with his girlfriend at the time & he said “Hi nice to meet you”.”

For Yi, Cross’s comments were not a joke. “I can tell the difference between this man making a joke vs condescending me.”

However, she does hope that Cross’s attitude has improved over the last 10 years. “This happened 10 years ago and I sure as hell hope he’s changed (or at the very least, he’s scared enough to not be his racist self).”

“HOWEVER it is very uncool that a 40+ man was being racist towards me, being a young 20 year old woman who was clearly on the verge of tears from his first racist comment.”