Chinese American Citizens Alliance

National Board

C.A.C.A. Response to Kimmel Skit

October 25, 2013

Mr. Paul Lee
President
ABC Entertainment Group
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-4589

Dear Mr. Lee

As the National President of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance (C.A.C.A.), among the nation's oldest civil rights and social advocacy organizations focused on addressing injustices perpetrated upon and inequities that have deprived our citizens of Chinese descent, I wholeheartedly join other prominent leaders and organizations to express very serious concerns about the October 16th airing of the late night, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which featured a skit titled "Kid's Table." By now you are aware of the segment where Kimmel questions a multi-ethnic group of children on how the U.S., on the heels of the government shutdown, should pay back the debt owed to China to which Braxton (very young, Caucasian boy) responds that the U.S. should "Kill Everyone in China."

Whether scripted or prompted, the young boy's comments are totally inappropriate and offensive to me and many others in the Asian American community and only serve to insinuate that China and Chinese Americans are to be scapegoats for our country's inability to manage both national and personal debts. Attempts to use humor in this context are nothing more than modern day subtle racism. Surely you realize that on a daily basis on the streets of this country, certain lenders and debtors have been known to take these desperate violent measures to settle (think cancel) debts. To me, that's the kind of message these skits can implant in weak-minded individuals who might use any reason as a good reason to harm people of Asian ethnicity.

Mr. Lee, you only need to look a few short miles from your Burbank offices to see the historical areas where the Chinese massacres occurred in early Los Angeles. That is reality! While I join others in strongly urging an apology or even some form of "sensitivity" programming in future skits, I hope you'll not mischaracterize me as another overly sensitive, politically correct seeking Chinese American who can't lighten up and take a joke. I fully understand the relationship between ratings and advertisers and will vigorously pursue those avenues to effect changes whereby our ethnic communities, either directly or by inference, are not cast as today's convenient scapegoats. I gladly welcome your response and contact with me to discuss reasonable paths forward for change and understanding.

Sincerely,

Ed Gor

President
Chinese American Citizens Alliance

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