Newsweek reports that Tina Fay is under fire for her representation of Asians in Mean Girls.
As the Black Lives Matter movement is gaining increasingly in traction.
In an effort to show her support, Fey has requested that streaming services remove episodes of her series 30 Rock that feature blackface.
“As we strive to do the work and do better in regards to race in America, we believe that these episodes featuring actors in race-changing makeup are best taken out of circulation,” Fey wrote in the letter, per Vulture.
“I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images. I apologize for pain they have caused. Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness. I thank NBCUniversal for honoring this request.”
Whilst some have praised her in supporting the movement, Twitter users highlighted how she also has a history of belittling Asians.
In particular, a scene from her 2004 film Mean Girls resurfaced. The scene involves underaged promiscuous Asian students fighting over a sports coach. Each student is dating the coach and the intention of the scene is comedic.
The names of the students are Trang Pak (Ky Pham) and Sun Jin Dinh (Danielle Nguyen), which are a mashup of Vietnamese and Korean surnames.
“Tina Fey also has a s**tty track record when it comes to depicting Asian people, women in particular. Mean Girls, Sisters, 30 Rock—the underlying ‘joke’ is that they’re hyper-sexual, and looking for green cards/can’t speak English,” one Twitter user wrote.
“But @nbc’s racism doesn’t stop there. Their darling, tina fey, is one of the worst anti-Asian racists there is. in mean girls, she clearly plays on dragon lady and prostitute stereotypes of Asian women,” another added.
“@KimmySchmidt Tina Fey removed Blackface from @30Rock y’all gonna admit you fucked up with the Asian stuff? What’s good @netflix,” one person wrote.
“What’s up with Tina Fey’s weirdness with Asians? In Mean Girls, underaged girls being raped by Coach Carr are Trang Pak and Sun Jin Dinh. And it’s played for laughs as the 2 girls fight over him,” another added.
Thinking a lot about one Asian character in Mean Girls having a Vietnamese first name but a Korean surname, and another one having a name that seems to have just been made up entirely???
— Mara “Get Rid of the Nazis” Wilson (@MaraWilson) June 23, 2020
What’s up with Tina Fey’s weirdness with Asians? In Mean Girls, underaged girls being raped by Coach Carr are Trang Pak and Sun Jin Dinh. And it’s played for laughs as the 2 girls fight over him. pic.twitter.com/CIZINQCola
— Ceda DEFUND THE POLICE Shiiiiiiiiong (@slobear) June 20, 2020
@KimmySchmidt Tina Fey removed Blackface from @30Rock y’all gonna admit you fucked up with the Asian stuff? What’s good @netflix
— ACAB AND YOUNG JEEZY (@kieumonger) June 23, 2020
#TinaFey,the proper term for “race-changing makeup” is BLACKFACE. If u can’t admit that’s what u did,it’s hard to believe yr sincerity. Also,what about all yr jokes abt Native American, Latinx, Muslim & Asian ppl? Best to just put a disclaimer on yr career https://t.co/0Zn0lSWIYe
— Mynette Louie (@mynette) June 23, 2020
but @nbc‘s racism doesn’t stop there. their darling, tina fey, is one of the worst anti-Asian racists there is. in mean girls, she clearly plays on dragon lady and prostitute stereotypes of Asian women.https://t.co/DXH9X4TF4K
— Doug Kim (@douglasfunniest) June 18, 2020
