Rosie O'Donnell chimes in with 'ching chong'

December 11, 2006

Here's a good summary of the debacle, courtesy of an e-mail from the Asian American Theater Company:

Rosie: "The fact is that it's news all over the world. That you know, you can imagine in China it's like: 'Ching chong … ching chong. Danny DeVito, ching chong, chong, chong, chong. Drunk. 'The View.' Ching chong" when describing guest Danny DeVito for coming onto the show intoxicated.

Watch it at Gawker

Rosie told Asians to lighten up in the New York Daily News.

The statement didn't sit well with John C. Liu, a New York City councilman, who fired off a letter to "View" co-host Barbara Walters.

"The 'ching-chong' bit is not a trivial matter," Liu told FOXNews.com. "It really hits a raw nerve for many people in the community — many like myself, who grew up with these kinds of taunts. We all know that it never ends at the taunts."

This incident comes right after Rosie's a public tiff with talk show host Kelly Ripa. Rosie accused Kelly of being homophobic when Clay Aiken put his hand over Kelly's mouth. Both hosts spent air time on each of their shows defending themselves. See it at Gawker.

Remember 'ching chong ching chong' on the playground? Would Rosie have made a joke about African tribes or nations? Write a letter to ABC's View Producer Barbara Walters.

Recent usages of the term 'Ching Chong Ching Chong'

In December 2002, the term gained international notoriety when National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal directed it, apparently in jest, at fellow NBA star and Chinese immigrant Yao Ming, during an interview on Fox Sports Radio. O'Neal was quoted as saying, "You tell Yao Ming, 'Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.'" Yao Ming reponded with: "Chinese is a hard language to learn." After a public outcry, O'Neal apologized for making the comment, insisting that no prejudice or malice had been intended.

On January 24, 2006, comedian Adam Carolla referred to the Asian Excellence Awards as a joke on his radio morning show and repeatedly used the sounds "ching-chong" to recreate a segment of the awards. The awards honor Asian Americans in media who have made a difference in the United States and were conducted in English. Branding the segment as demeaning and racist, several Asian American organizations have threatened to ask advertisers to withdraw their support from the show if the station does not issue an apology. On February 22, 2006, Carolla without fanfare read a brief apology for the segment. On April 26, 2006, Carolla invited the head of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Guy Aoki, to further explain that when he aired the bit, he had no idea that "ching chong" was a racial slur.

Below is a link to Adam Corrolla's show last week with Guy Aoki, Media Action Network for Asian Americans, describing his support for the Asian American community against Rosie.

Listen to the Adam Corrolla Podcast with Guy Aoki.

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

Rosie is nothing but a fat slob that cares nothing for our troups. If not for her money, she would have a hard time getting laid by a sex toy. A great comedian like Bob Hope would never think to degrade his government or it's policy during a military operation. Rosie is a no good who should go a live in another country like Iran where she could feel more a home.
It's simply unbelievable that minorities other than asian have their grievances broadcast incessantly in the media, yet the torment that asian children experience are ignored. Since when has "the N word" become taboo even in context, while the CH word is not. Ignorance nay negligence is still a type of racism and bigotry. the type usually expressed by "i didn't know" or "lighten up" because i don't care.
Of course some ethnic groups are still fair game. Viewed as "less passive" than Asians are African Americans; Jews; gays and Latino Americans. Would Rosie have the gumption to take a swing at any of them. Of course not.
Then who is to blame for asian passiveness. Society will not respect a race of people if they do not demand it, respect. This ia a cruel world, America is a cruel place. If Asian leaders are not going to be more outspoken then whats the point of having them. To the Asian leaders that confronted this issue Kudos to them, dont take any of this stuff sitting down. Dare to be diiferent.
just because rosie is fat and ugly does not give her the right to go around making fun of an entire language system. Maybe losing some weight and a face change will get some of that bigot steam off her. Shut the fat trap and just live with your unfortunate genes
anonymous, do you hate fat people?
Rosie O'Donnell apologized this morning:http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/14/BAG7AMVN6Q8.DTLI actually like Rosie O'Donnell, and was a little disappointed that she didn't understand how offensive her remarks were. At least she has come around now.
Agree w/Relax to some extent. Asian Americans have been outspoken about this "incident" (or whatever u want to call it), but when you have the whole audience and fellow View castmembers laughing along with you and Executive Producer the once-esteemed Barbara Walters basically Hoping This Will All Go Away.If Asian media leaders continue to ask for "an apology" from Miss O'Donnell, will they be accused of being Too Uptight and Need to Lighten Up?Has anyone ever told Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem or (insert name of Gay/Lesbian leader here) to do that after "a joke"?I think not.
Kelly Ripa's not a lesbian so what she said was homophobic. Rosie's not Asian (obviously) so she's racist. Me? I'm not white so I'm just offended.
See the apology video here.
The apology doesn't seem sincere to me. As is her excuse that unbeknownst to her ching chong was offensive. gee, really?
i was upset when i found out rosie o donnell was leaving the view, and read about this in the article about her leaving, i dont watch the show on a regular basis but ive seen some few episodes and usually i am ok with what she says and her point of view, i applauded her on her outspoken view, but this hurted me, i always looked up to rosie because she was empowering, she wasnt scared and she was a female, she made me feel like i could be whoever i wanted and not care, but im asian, when she said this i felt violated, i felt redicule, i never thought any one up to her standards would still stereotype. She broke the stereotype boundary, yet she still continued to live by them.
Ching chong hurts? So let me get this right... dont make fun of anyone but straight white guys with jobs. And another thing, how is ANY chinese person ANYWHERE considered a minority?
REALLY: Im not getting this question?And another thing, how is ANY chinese person ANYWHERE considered a minority?
hey, you can make fun of people with ching chong if you want. just acknowledge that's it's racist and juvenile, and stop pretending that it's not and that you didn't know it was."And another thing, how is ANY chinese person ANYWHERE considered a minority?"let's see now: asian americans make up about 4 percent of the american population, and chinese and part-chinese people make up just part of that 4 percent. seems like a minority to me.
I am amazed at how upset people are over this. It was a BAD imitation of a dialect, that's all. The point was that the Devito thing was news all over the place, and Rosie made a bad choice in choosing a dialect to make her point. She doesn't know Chinese, obviously. It wasn't a slam at Chinese people AT ALL. Obviously she didn't mean to offend people and she has since apologized. Comparing this to Michael Richard's hate-filled rant is ludicrous. I find it ironic, however, at how many people think it's perfectly okay to make fun of Rosie's weight and her sexual orientation--clearly meant as insults. This woman is tireless in her charitable efforts and message of love for all people. She's not a racist.
We Asians need to stand up and not take this garbage anymore.We need to be heard, and take a cue from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
I agree that people shouldn't make fun of her weight and sexual orientation, but I bet she doesn't even know there are dialects of Chinese, so how can it be a bad imitation of a dialect? Her apology is full of crap. She's basically said she'd do it again. Sure, she's got a message of love for all people -- except Asians. For someone who is so liberal and so supportive of other minorities, it is very dissappointing to see her brushing this aside as not a big deal. She should cop to making a mistake and try to learn something about why people might be upset and set a good example. What a waste.
Amen Ana. I totally agree. What if the issue was not Asian American's but Gays? I bet she would have a very different opinion. It is so hypocritical! How can u support and be sensitive to one minority group and not another? She is as bad if not worse than the bigots she is apparently trying to fight against. At least those bigots are consistent.Saying the N word or saying ching chong are the same thing! They are both used to mock and dehumanize an entire ethnicity or people. They are both grounded in fear, mockery and hatred. Do not forget that.Ching Chong: hidden meaning: Asians are foreign, stupid, less than.These comments and these phrases have been used in the past and present to characterize people as being sub-human, inferiors, different. That in turn opens the door for fear, misunderstanding, ignorance, discrimination and yes, violence! There is a connection between jokes, stereotypes, violence and institutional racism. It happens everyday and if we do not stop outbreaks at the source like the one from Ms. O'Donnell, they will only escalate.
Some of you people have no idea what "ching chong" connotates to a person of Asian descent (never mind Chinese descent).As Sally pointed out "ching chong" has been used as a taunt against Asian-Americans in order to basically make them feel inferior and to dehumanize them.Furthermore, "ching chong" isn't an accent, but rather, a racist simplification of an Asian language.Would Rosie have used the same "joke" substituting Nigeria for China and "ooga booga" for "ching chong"?
Sally, most intelligent response
Racist responseThis was how I used to respond to racist anti-asian epithets. Most of these examples I thought up when I was 10 years old. Yes, I was born a master.If it was Jew I would say: The whole world hates you. They all tried to kill you and they still want you to die. Now I see why.If it was a Black person I would say: What do you mean this is your country you stupid fucking slave? Here are your choices Go make cheeseburgers at McDonalds or Go hate white people! Damn you are a stupid fucking monkey. They're the ones that fucked you over.If it was a hispanic person I would say: You are ghetto. You were born in McDonalds and you're gonna die in McDonalds. You're just a stupid nigger that speaks spanish.If it was a white person: Depends. If I didn't get into a fight or threatened raping their family with a machette war of words etc. etc. I usually would ignore it and look down on them as I took the high road. And besides you can only fight so much. Why? There are too many of them.Might makes right.Look at Rosie O'Donnell. It's only now that Asians realize that the American dream is about consolidating power in a political group- a political identity. Look how I said Asian and not Asian American. No one says Jewish American. They say Jew. No one says Black American. They say black person. And so we are simply. Asian.Here's a joke for you: If asians were powerful enough to cause wars, like Mel Gibson pointed out and have power over the media, than no one would say racist things about Asians but maybe they would think it. Like some people hate jews but you can't say those things in public. And the ones that don't hate jews watch Seinfeld and Shindler's List all that Jewish propaganda. We need to sell our image better like the Jews do. The Asian community needs propaganda and political power too.We need to wake up and follow the Jewish model minority example or we will end up in camps one day. As far as Blacks are concerned we need to follow Jesse Jackson's example and shake down companies for major cash money bling bling.
Check out what i wrote to Barbara Walters. I hate Rosie.Dear Barbara,I had just recently came back from vacation in china and when I had gotten home I was so sad to hear that Rosie from the View had made a racist comment about the Chinese language. I'm sorry to write to you and not Rosie but I just couldn't find the link to her e-mail. I know it's probably old news to you by now, but I just feel like I need to address the fact that she does not have to right to say "ching chong, ching chong" about chinese people. I know damn well that if she were to speak about african americans, there would be a nation riot. She does not have the right to criticize chinese people when Lisa Ling use to be on your show. And I heard that when Rosie attempted to apologize, she stated that she might just do it again. I think she should apologize again on your show and this time mean it and not leave some silly blog on her website with an unsincere apology. Donald Trump has every right to call her a fat slob, pig, idiot or whatever. Donald Trump is a very intelligent man. But getting back to her insult of chinese people, she should not ever say anything in that measure again. When she speaks, she acts as if she doesn't have an education and I doubt that it's even because she's a comedian. I think she tries too hard for the audience and embarrasses caucasion people. She has unnessessary roughness and she doesn't give anyone else a chance to talk. Rosie gives The View a bad rap and having her on the show is like a sophisticated Jerry Springer Show, because people only watch to see who else Rosie O'Donell will criticize next for the next round of insults towards her on CNN, Larry King Live, or on the Morning Show with Merideth Viera. She spits while she talks and probably stinks too while you sit next to that fat sloppy slob. She has no sense of fashion for a person who is lucky to make as much money as she does. She gives very one-sided views and is mostly incorrect about the facts that she gives and the rest of the crew of The View doesn't even make an attempt to even correct her. Her niceness only comes from the fact that she's made fun of because of her weight. She speaks like a worthless drunk that just gets sober in the morning in time for her appearance on The View. Watching her makes me depressed, because she seems like she is lonely and friendless. Like Donald Trump says, she lucky to have her girlfriend but thats all she probably has. It's funny how Rosie was so obsessed with Tom Cruise on her own syndicated talk show and then all of a sudden she comes out and says she's gay. Maybe it's because no person of the male gender (no matter how ugly he may be) would even give this poor lowlife fat looser a chance at love or even a drunken one night stand. I am very disappointed with the show. I enjoyed watching it much better when Rosie was not on the show. People only laugh at Rosie because she's fat and they feel bad for her cause she seems hurt inside and lets it out by being a horrid comedian. If having Rosie on the show is the only way you can recieve ratings, I'm very disapointed with this show. I don't think I will be watching anymore along with some others that I know. I know now that your show is prejudice against people who try to help other people (i.e. Donald Trump), chinese people, and black people (i.e. Star Jones)...oh yeah...all except for fat people and gay people. Is this what you, Barbara Walters, accomplished to be?Disappointed,SusieP.S. Rosie should see this. She probably won't even understand.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjO7laQuTu8