Saturday Night Live comedian Bowen Yang spoke about the recent rise in violence against Asian-Americans during the show's "Weekend Update" segment. Yang was the first Chinese-American to join the on-air cast of SNL.
“Things for Asians in this country have been bleak for the past two weeks and all the weeks before that since forever. There’s a lot of work to do and I found some posts online with action items everyone can take to help,” he said.
From there, he joked about six ways to check in on your AAPI friends "and tell them they're so hot."
He continued by joking about how bad things have gotten:
What can I say to help how insanely bad things are? If someone’s personality is ‘punch an Asian grandma,’ it’s not a dialogue. I have an Asian grandma, you want to punch her, there ain’t no common ground mama. I see my friends donating and I tell them, that’s great, but I also tell them ‘do more.’ You’re ordering from Chinese restaurants? Great. Do more. Let me know when you feed your white kids chicken feet. You cried during ‘Minari’? Congrats. I was sobbing into my boner for Steven Yeun. Do more! Why are you telling me that you tipped your manicurist? Let me know when you get on your knees and scrub her feet while she looks at your phone. Do more!
Yang also gave a shout-out to a GoFundMe for an Asian woman in San Francisco who was recently attacked. The page has raised more than $900,000.
“I can’t address any of this without bringing up class or gender or imperialism," he added. "I don’t even want to be doing this update piece. I wanted to do my character, Gay Passover Bunny, but it’s too smart for the show. I’m just a comedian, I don’t have the answers, but I’m not just looking for them online: I am looking around me.”
[Via]