Chris Rock’s Asian Joke at Oscars Provokes Backlash
Amid generally positive reviews of his jabs at Hollywood and #OscarsSoWhite, the host of Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, Chris Rock, is being taken to task for some of his material involving Asian-Americans.
Introducing the accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, which tabulates the vote results, Mr. Rock instead brought onstage two boys and a girl of Asian heritage. As they clutched briefcases, they visually illustrated the stereotype that Asians are diligent workers who excel at math.
“If anybody’s upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids,” Mr. Rock added, a punch line interpreted as a reference to child labor in Asia.