Unscripted: Deemed offensive remarks that's got Filipinos fuming
Published May 3, 2018 04:17 am
Most Filipinos are slow in anger being the hospitable lot we are known for. But when someone, maybe especially a foreigner, makes what is deemed by them as denigrating remarks, then watch out!
Alec Baldwin (Reuters /Shannon Stapleton)
Among those who recently earned the ire of some Pinoys is American actress-director Issa Rae. Her three-year-old book “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” has created controversy over her saying that Filipino men are the “blacks of Asians.” It's in a chapter on "why successful black women and Asian men should just date each other.” It is said to be her “tongue-in-cheek solution to her observation that both groups have a bad reputation when it comes to dating.”
Adding more fuel to the heat is that she left out Filipino men in her suggestion of potential partners because, according to her, she’s talking about those who have been classified as “intelligent and hardworkers,” and she means the “Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, et cetera.”
Well, it's not the first time deemed anti-Pinoy/anti-Philippines comments by foreigners have gotten backlash...
Heaven or hell?
Who can forgot Dan Brown? The best-selling American author of “The Da Vinci Code” described Manila as “the gates of hell” in his fictional book called “Inferno” published in 2013. That did not go well with Pinoy officials, no.
The offending line was used to describe a visitor to Manila who is taken aback by what he saw.
Then chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Francis Tolentino even wrote an open letter to Brown saying that while “Inferno” is fiction, “we are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis.”
He added that the novel fails to acknowledge Filipinos' good character and compassion.
“Truly, our place is an entry to heaven,” Tolentino said. “We hope that this letter enlightens you and may it guide you the next time you cite Manila in any of your works.”
Not funny
Then there’s Alec Baldwin who said he wants to “order a Filipina bride.”
In an interview with David Letterman in 2009, the famous actor and comedian made a very bad joke about Filipino.
The host asked Baldwin if he wanted to have more kids. To that, he quickly joked he is thinking of buying a Filipino bride. "I think about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point or a Russian one, I don’t care, I’m 51," he said
He immediately drew flak. A few days later, he issued this apology.
“I apologize for the perceived insensitivity of that remark,” Baldwin said in his blog posted at the Huffington Post website.
Baldwin explained that his joke was just meant to "achieve the goal of having more children in (his) life.”
“I believe that most people understood that this was a joke and took it as such. (A dated reference, no doubt, and another sign of my advancing age),” he said.
Unfortunately, despite his apology, the Bureau of Immigration issued an order barring Baldwin from entering the Philippines as he is deemed an “undesirable alien.”
Then Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the Hollywood actor appeared to condone the mail-order bride scheme, which is a criminal act prohibited and punishable under Republic Act 6955.
Say what?
Two year prior to this, a deemed “racial slur” made against Philippine medical schools shown on the hit American television series “Desperate Housewives” prompted several Filipinos to demand an apology from its creators.
The said slur came when Susan Mayer, played by American actress Teri Hatcher visited the office of Dr. Adam Mayfair played by Nathan Fillion.
In the scene that was shown in the US on Sept. 30 2007, Dr. Mayfair told a visibly terrified Mayer that the word “menopause" seems to open a Pandora’s Box for the age-conscious middle-aged woman.
Hatcher throws a fit at her gynaecologist and questions his credentials because he suggests she is going through the early stages of menopause. “Can I check those diplomas,” she said, “because I want to make sure they're not from some med school in the Philippines.”
Filipino Dr Siegfried Perez from Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia would later tell GMA News: “I have communicated with fellow members of the health care profession, both Filipinos and other nationalities alike. We have all come to the conclusion that this kind of racial slur is a very irresponsible act …(which) should NEVER be tolerated in any society, whether in a first world or a third world country."
So, yeah, watch your words.
Alec Baldwin (Reuters /Shannon Stapleton)
Among those who recently earned the ire of some Pinoys is American actress-director Issa Rae. Her three-year-old book “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” has created controversy over her saying that Filipino men are the “blacks of Asians.” It's in a chapter on "why successful black women and Asian men should just date each other.” It is said to be her “tongue-in-cheek solution to her observation that both groups have a bad reputation when it comes to dating.”
Adding more fuel to the heat is that she left out Filipino men in her suggestion of potential partners because, according to her, she’s talking about those who have been classified as “intelligent and hardworkers,” and she means the “Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, et cetera.”
Well, it's not the first time deemed anti-Pinoy/anti-Philippines comments by foreigners have gotten backlash...
Heaven or hell?
Who can forgot Dan Brown? The best-selling American author of “The Da Vinci Code” described Manila as “the gates of hell” in his fictional book called “Inferno” published in 2013. That did not go well with Pinoy officials, no.
The offending line was used to describe a visitor to Manila who is taken aback by what he saw.
Then chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Francis Tolentino even wrote an open letter to Brown saying that while “Inferno” is fiction, “we are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis.”
He added that the novel fails to acknowledge Filipinos' good character and compassion.
“Truly, our place is an entry to heaven,” Tolentino said. “We hope that this letter enlightens you and may it guide you the next time you cite Manila in any of your works.”
Not funny
Then there’s Alec Baldwin who said he wants to “order a Filipina bride.”
In an interview with David Letterman in 2009, the famous actor and comedian made a very bad joke about Filipino.
The host asked Baldwin if he wanted to have more kids. To that, he quickly joked he is thinking of buying a Filipino bride. "I think about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point or a Russian one, I don’t care, I’m 51," he said
He immediately drew flak. A few days later, he issued this apology.
“I apologize for the perceived insensitivity of that remark,” Baldwin said in his blog posted at the Huffington Post website.
Baldwin explained that his joke was just meant to "achieve the goal of having more children in (his) life.”
“I believe that most people understood that this was a joke and took it as such. (A dated reference, no doubt, and another sign of my advancing age),” he said.
Unfortunately, despite his apology, the Bureau of Immigration issued an order barring Baldwin from entering the Philippines as he is deemed an “undesirable alien.”
Then Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the Hollywood actor appeared to condone the mail-order bride scheme, which is a criminal act prohibited and punishable under Republic Act 6955.
Say what?
Two year prior to this, a deemed “racial slur” made against Philippine medical schools shown on the hit American television series “Desperate Housewives” prompted several Filipinos to demand an apology from its creators.
The said slur came when Susan Mayer, played by American actress Teri Hatcher visited the office of Dr. Adam Mayfair played by Nathan Fillion.
In the scene that was shown in the US on Sept. 30 2007, Dr. Mayfair told a visibly terrified Mayer that the word “menopause" seems to open a Pandora’s Box for the age-conscious middle-aged woman.
Hatcher throws a fit at her gynaecologist and questions his credentials because he suggests she is going through the early stages of menopause. “Can I check those diplomas,” she said, “because I want to make sure they're not from some med school in the Philippines.”
Filipino Dr Siegfried Perez from Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia would later tell GMA News: “I have communicated with fellow members of the health care profession, both Filipinos and other nationalities alike. We have all come to the conclusion that this kind of racial slur is a very irresponsible act …(which) should NEVER be tolerated in any society, whether in a first world or a third world country."
So, yeah, watch your words.