Apology Demanded from Adam Carolla

Harry Mok
February 1, 2006

Adam Carolla, Howard Stern's replacement on CBS radio, is drawing complaints from Asian American organizations for "ching chong" sound clips on his show in a segment making fun of the Asian Excellence Awards.

Click here for the original post on this topic.

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

ZT wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 1:59am
Aww... Poor babies. Somebody call the WAAAAAAAAAAAABULANCE!
Theo wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 4:20am
Ching-chong ching chong? Ching ching ching ching chong! Ching chong chong!!!
Chris T. wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 6:56am
While this clip may have been in bad taste, don't the Asian Excellence Awards also separate Asian Americans from the rest of America? If fusion is what we're shooting for, a racially-exclusive awards show is certainly not helping to integrate anyone.Carolla was out of line with this clip, (which didn't work for me, had to track it down in other ways) but I don't feel that it set anyone back but himself. I doubt anyone will lose respect for Asian Americans from this, instead of Carolla for saying it.
Jim wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 10:08am
Lighten up you [DELETED SLUR]....Adam Carrolla is a funny clever guy and the bit was NOT offensive!!!Im an Asain man and I did not find it racist in any way!!!!!!!!You people have nothing better to do????Get a life.....please!!!!!!!
Evelyn wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 10:11am
Who said we were shooting for fusion? (I'm not sure what you mean by fusion, either.)Striving for pluralism is undoubtedly good. But people need to be able to celebrate themselves. Especially in this case when Asian Americans get the shaft in mainstream media.Following your argument you could say that Hyphen, Essence, and Latina should't exist either since they are writing only about their own groups. You ARE on a website about Asian Americans, you know.
Ivan wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 10:15am
Adam Carrolla is so much better then Stern ever was or could be....and if you A-holes try to take his show away from me, I will hunt you down!!!!(the threat part is not to be taken seriously)
Alan wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 10:19am
Jim, if you found this funny, you must have all of 2 braincells, or maybe you're 10 years old.People can demand an apology if they want to. (Me, I have better things to do.)But how can you possibly call this "clever"? It was so juvenile.
Harry wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 11:01am
For those who don't think Carolla should apologize, a question I have is what crosses the line of not being funny and being offensive or something that would require an apology?
ratgirl wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 11:29am
last year my six year old nephew came home from school and told us that a school mate of his was laughing and singing "ching-chong ching-chong..." like a song during recess. he didn't understand and asked him what it meant. the kid said he didn't know, but that it was funny. my nephew said he didn't think it funny and if he kept it up he wasn't going to play with him anymore. the kid stopped. innocence.the adam carolla's of the world need to stop passing off their racist views in the guise of humor. racism is learned.
Andy wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 12:17pm
To answer Harry's question above, in my opinion, something that would require an apology would be statements that speak in a serious manner about a certain race. If you're not making a joke and say, "Mexicans need to be deported from the USA because they are ruining the country," that would be rather offensive. If you're on Saturday Night Live or some jokester talk-radio show the same words could be funny if said the right way. I think people need to put the words into the context which they are spoken. I could say, "Fuck you!" to my friend and it would be funny. I could say the same exact words to a stranger and it would have a completely different meaning.I'm reposting this below because some people requested me to. I didn't even know this was on a blog!---First of all, I think Adam Carolla is a fucking dumbass idiot. But I'm not going to demand he apologize to anyone because I don't think he should. If Carolla had said these things in a serious way, this would probably be a major issue but the "ching chong" thing is a poor attempt at comedy. What I don't understand is the huge uproar about it. I mean how many times have you heard blonde jokes, rips on Polish people, Yugoslavian cars, hicks, fat people, or Chris Rock talking about Blacks. Every time you turn on the TV or watch a movie there are plays on stereotypes. It's fucking comedy and satire. People shouldn't take it personally.I'm an Asian American and I don't give a shit about the little skit Adam Carolla pulled. It's like any other attempt at comedy except it wasn't funny to anyone because it's just plain stupid. People make fun of people all the time. Have you ever laughed at a joke you heard about a culture or race? I have because sometimes it's funny. That doesn't mean I have a problem with that race or culture. Texans, New York accents, Southerners, Canadians, Mexicans, homosexuals--basically every type of person in the world has stereotypes and jokes about those stereotypes. Just because this "ching chong" shit happens to be about Asian Americans you're up in fucking arms?!? Why don't we make every other comedian apologize for every racial joke they've ever said as well. Censor every joke, song, periodical and novel in the world while you're at it. Fuck FREEDOM OF SPEECH, let's make the world a safe, censored place.Didn't some local Asian Americans compile a book about "How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office?" To me, that title alone sounds much more like a negative racial statement against White people than anything I heard in Adam Carolla's idiotic skit about Asian Americans--especially because that book was serious about the statement in the title. We better go after whoever put together that book too! They need to apologize to White people. Shouldn't the Hyphen staff need to apologize to White people as well?! The blatent stereotype on the cover of issue 6 definitely plays off a negative stereotype of White people who get tattooes in Asian languages. We all better openly apologize to the public in the next issue. Everyone needs to be treated equally right?!Doesn't something seem wrong here? I wish people would choose to fight for the real racial problems going on around the world. Fight for educating people instead of wasting time with fools like Adam Carolla.---
claire wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 1:36pm
Didn't some local Asian Americans compile a book about "How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office?"
no. ONE asian american (annie koh, a co-founder of hyphen) and a bunch of other folks of all colors and descents, including white, put this book together. one of the editors is a white man. andy, you don't seem to be very sensitive to language. the title is "how to get stupid white men out of office", not "all white men are stupid. let's get 'em all out of office". what's the difference? if you can't figure it out for yourself, then my explaining won't help.by the way, don't forget that michael moore (who is a white man, in case you didn't know) published a book called "stupid white men" as well. he also, clearly did not mean himself. how do i know this? it's a little thing called a "modifier".
Andy wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 2:43pm
Ok Claire, let's say you go into the bookstore and see a book titled, "How to get stupid Asians out of the country." Does that sound racist to you? I didn't think so...
Andrew wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 2:56pm
Wow you people honestly have NO lives whatsoever. Mr. Carolla is a funny guy. Lay off of him you liberal pussies.
Andrew wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 3:02pm
Yea honestly. GET A LIFE! His sponsors REALLY won't give a shit about your little 10 person Asian rights group. They're multi-million dollar companies who realize that Adam launched Loveline into a media mobile that influenced millions of kids and he will bring very similar success to the Los Angeles market.Please get a life folks.
Amy wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 3:02pm
hahaha, and I bet you'd laugh at cartoons of mohammed with a bomb on his head, oh, wait...
Theo wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 3:43pm
I honestly believe that there is ZERO chance Carolla's advertisers will feel "threatened."If you want an apology, do NOT ask Carolla. He is NOT in-charge of the show. Instead, demand an apology from the show's producer... with the help of a formal letter from an Attorney!
Jim wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 6:01pm
Alan, I never said that the bit was clever, I said HE was a clever guy (speaking in general terms)....I thought the bit was FUNNY....in a juvenile way, but funny nontheless!!
Alan wrote on Thu, 02/02/2006 - 7:21pm
Jim, OK fine, so you think he's a clever guy. I think it's sad that you thought it was funny. Are you one of those white-washed Asians?