On Thursdays episode of The View, a show I never watch because I spend that time celebrating the fact I'm not watching The View, Rosie O'Donnell cracked wise about Danny DeVito's drunken appearance on the show being national news, saying that even in China the newspaper read, "Ching chong, ching ching chong, Danny DeVito!"
I don't know how accurate Rosie's grasp of Chinese is, but I do know that "ching chong, ching ching chong, Danny DeVito" should be put to a dance beat and played in clubs. I'd certainly dance to it. However, some weren't so amused with Rosie's remark: the Asian American Journalist Association wrote that Rosie's remark "gives the impression that they are a group that is substandard to English-speaking people." Rosie ironically responded in her signature fourth grade haiku style on her blog, saying no offense was meant.
My first reaction to this is that if we're going to get on Rosie's case about this, we might as well attack anyone who affects any kind of a fake accent or dialect. Bad French accents alone have been a part of comedy for ages: Monty Python and Peter Sellers both spring immediately to mind. Or is this different? Share your thoughts.
[via TMZ]











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
12-09-2006 @ 8:55PM
malren said...
You are missing the point entirely - Rosie went after Kelly Ripa and called her a homophobe just because she said she didn't want Clay Aiken;s hand in her mouth. Remember, Ripa's crime was saying "I don't know where that hand has been!"
"Ching-chong" etc. is not only racist and xenophobic, but in Rosie's case it makes he a HUGE hypocrite.
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12-09-2006 @ 9:02PM
malren said...
By the way, both you and the linked article downplay exactly how and what Rosie said. Her exact words:
O'Donnell: The fact is that it's news all over the world. You can imagine in China, it's like, "Ching chong ching ching ching chong Danny DeVito ching ching chong drunk The View ching chong."
It was precisely and exactly the kind of "ching chong" racist humor that Looney Tunes stopped distributing when Americans stopped accepting "chink" and "Japs" as standard terminology.
See for yourself:
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/12/08/video-racial-sensitivity-on-the-view/
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12-09-2006 @ 9:10PM
David4 said...
Those damn japs and niggars! Yeah I said it because I could. Whatever happened to free speech? Sure, it might not be in good taste, but frankly who cares? Does anyone care if some C-list star gets drunk? Does anyone care what Krammer does after Sienfeld? Were we going to see his act? Frankly it's the best thing he has done since the show because he's in the news again. I think it's time to move on from these pointless news stories and worry about what's really important...
Is Britney Spears wearing panties tonight!?
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12-09-2006 @ 11:03PM
Bernie said...
Is she a Keith and the Girl (www.katg.com) listener? He's a comedian and uses it (successfully) for comedic shock (comedy that makes us laugh that 'ooh-ooh' laugh). It was obviousely not said out of hate, so get over it. We need to allow people their freedom of hate speech in order to show us their ignorance.
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12-09-2006 @ 11:15PM
Heather said...
I think that Rosie was being irresponsible. I expect more from her. I don't think she's racist, but it's inappropriate on a national program like The View to mock Chinese in that way. Chinese is a complex language, and just because the average American doesn't understand it, it doesn't mean it's gibberish- and when someone "fakes" Chinese like that, they make it sound like it's gibberish.
Oh, and I agree. If she's made a Kelly Ripa, than she should admit she was out-of-line. A simple, "my mistake" is appropriate.
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12-10-2006 @ 12:08AM
Guiles Gonoughan said...
In China this story's headline reads "Ching Chong, Ching Ching Chong Rosie O'Donnell."
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12-10-2006 @ 1:00AM
tb said...
Sure, it's okay to mock Oriental people (yes, we're "Oriental"--it's NOT offensive, it's what we are). Everyone does it, we never complain and nobody stands up for us. It goes to show that we deserve it.
Now...making fun of blacks. THAT's taboo. Chinese folk are fair game.
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12-10-2006 @ 1:00AM
ekw said...
Wow. Where do we start? Rosie is as PC as you can get. Her rip of Kelly Ripa is typical of her. She is all over anyone who even mentions straight sex. Well, practically. That's how hypocritical she is. If you are straight you're homophobic.
Now this Chinese thing, it's blown up way out of proportion. I know that the Chinese are going to be pissed, but you're right, can anyone do accents anymore? Comedy was just getting to the point where nothing was sacred (which is where it should be), and now people want to put it back to the 1950's when there were many words you couldn't say. They were just different words. The thrust of it all is the same. So Rosie is a hypocrite and a PC policeman (yes, policeman) but I don't think she did anything wrong. I hate to defend her because I can't stand her, but I have to.
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12-10-2006 @ 1:08AM
tb said...
Orientals (no, it's NOT offensive...it's where we're from--so stop thinking we care) don't stand up for themselves and that's why they're constantly mocked. It's about time somebody made a stink about it.
It's taboo to make fun of a black person but Chinamen are fair game.
Unrelated: Rosie seems to just make an ass of herself on the random. I have this theory that she's pissed that she's not as liked as Ellen as being a lesbian. Being an ignorant dike and all.
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12-10-2006 @ 3:10AM
jack said...
Oriental is offensive because it is naming people based on a location from a certain point. "We in this location are so great and we name you, who are located in an area that is orient from us, oriental."
You occidentals are really something.
Rosie can say whatever she wants. Remember it is not always about how it is intended, but how it is preceived that rules the day. Like any kind of harassment.
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12-10-2006 @ 3:24AM
RT said...
okay first of all, i love how rosie turned "the view" into Sesame Street 2. all i see on that show nowadays are puppets and toys!! Secondly, it's hard for someone to see how insulting something is until they are the target of it. There is a thin line between humor and insult when it comes to someone's ethnicity. One can be funny w/o insulting people. ekw-There's more to comedy that just doing accents!!!!!Rosie is a huge hyprocrite. How can she make comments poking fun at Oriental people and get offended at Kelly Ripa for not even comming to making an homophobic statement on her show!!!. "I don't know where that hands been" is not the same as "I hate you homo!" But Rosie felt with that one statement, Kelly had damned all gays of the world!!!!! On a side note, Clay never came out and stated his sexual preference, but it's good to know that Rosie has decided for him!!!
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12-10-2006 @ 3:57AM
silk said...
A celebrity lesbian making racists comments in public is just plain ironic. I don't really see what the big deal is. Over the past 6 years America has firmly established that it's a racist, intolerant country. No one in the world is unclear about this anymore besides the minority (pun intended) of Americans who live on the two coasts who isn't racist. My advice, which I have taken, is if you're a minority get out while the getting is good. Enjoy the few things America is still good for which is entertainment. All of which can be enjoyed from afar and, unless you are part of that 1% that controls America, you will make more money and enjoy a better quality of life when you do. Leave the lazy, fat racists to try and live by themselves. Ironically, then Rosie will see how quickly her and her homosexual brothers and sisters will end up being lynched by the mob who has no one else to hate.
Yes, free speech is good. But it will only take a couple posts before it is clear that for many people, free speech use is hypocritical because I will soon be censored for anti-Americanism and labeled a terrorist, I am sure. I find most people who quote free speech on the internet use it and then say their true feelings secure that they are anonymous. I am sure if you do an internet analysis and take out the journalists and academic discourse, and then focus on U.S. IP ranges, the phrase "free speech", is 9 out of 10 times, accompanied by racists sentiments.
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12-10-2006 @ 9:25AM
Will Teullive said...
If this Ching Chong was a gay man or lesbian woman, Rosie would have never made these comments!
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12-10-2006 @ 9:46AM
Dan said...
Free speech is a difficult concept to grasp for insecure people who need to control the behavior of others. If any Chinese person wants to make fun of how English sounds to them, feel free. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest. Nor does it bother me that the word China means "Middle Kingdom," as in center of the world. I don't look at thousands of years of Chinese history and say "It's a racist country" tarring a billion people with that insult. That would be rude, immature, and just plain stupid.
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12-10-2006 @ 11:38AM
Bob said...
You go on Rosie. "Ching Chong" is exactly what the Chinese newspapers should be saying in RosieWorld which is, let's face it, where we all live in our hearts if not our minds.
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12-10-2006 @ 1:12PM
nick said...
I'm not commenting on this story, however anyone notice the amount of stories that appear each week about Rosie O'Donnell now? Rosie did this.... She said that... Did you see her blog?
Why are people so interested in what's she saying or doing all of the sudden? I don't remember this kind of scrutiny when she hosted her own show.
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12-10-2006 @ 1:26PM
Annie Wu said...
You'd never guess it from my name, but I'm Chinese. I wasn't particularly offended by what Rosie said. I just thought it was stupid and a bit sad. Kind of the way I felt about all the kids that used to shout "ching chong" at me BACK IN SECOND GRADE. Rosie's a bit old for that, isn't she?
Downgrade.
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12-10-2006 @ 3:40PM
patrick said...
theres nothing wrong with making fun of accents. sure you can make fun of the french or whatever not, but at least you do it somewhat accurately. "ching chong ching chong" is not a chinese accent. it's not even close. there are many comedians that make fun of asian races and they are funny. because they do it accurately. you think chris rock could make fun of black people if he made random stereotypical ignorant remarks?
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12-10-2006 @ 4:16PM
Adam said...
This is exactly what Adam Carolla got in trouble for. The Asian community threatened to boycott all of his radio show's sponsors until he apologized. And Adam has long used the Asian and Jewish communities as examples of people who are successful because they take care of their children.
If Adam gets a lot of flak over it, I think Rosie should too. Especially in light of her recent fabrication of a story against Kelly Rippa.
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12-10-2006 @ 5:26PM
RuDee said...
Silk--
Your comments are nearly to ridiculous to comment on, but I can't help myself. In your effort to set the entire country straight, all you have succeeded in doing is pointing out how intolerant you are. What gives you the right to sit in judgement over the entire country. You have no right what-so-ever to speak for me. It's OK, then, to stereotype every American who doesn't live on one of the "enlightened" coasts as racist. Grow up and grow a brain cell.
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