 People still cannot tell Asians apart welcome everybody to the hot pop boys David and Andrew here We got another case of the mainstream media mixing Asians up with each other long story short Ali Wong is divorcing her real husband Justin Okuta, but when the mainstream media was reporting it They were getting her husband mixed up with Randall Park who's an actual famous actor and only played her husband in a movie and a lot of people were really Offended by this on reddit Twitter different blogs a lot of outrage And you know the interesting thing was initially when me and you heard about this we didn't think it was a big deal I mean I knew it was kind of a big deal like a little bit But we were worried about like the New York subway shooter and you know he had shot a bunch of Asians too So I was more like yo guys I don't want to be like a representation and only care about this when this is happening like literally right outside of my door But Jeff Yang then wrote a think piece about it a week later And it kind of made me reconsider How big of a deal it was because there was a reason it went viral It's because so many people related to being mixed up for another Asian at their workplace or at school Or in like a social setting. Yeah, it's happened to all of us actually anybody who's ever been in media And even the Asians who have never been in media just every regular Asian who's been in a space where there's Maybe not a lot of Asians or it's ran by non Asians. You'll get mixed up for each other, right? And in the article Jeff Yang interviews a lot of celebrities about different people They've been mixed up for especially in the media space if you guys know about Western media It's probably like less than 5% Asian So it's not like the medical field where Asians are theoretically overrepresented at like 40% 50% We're talking about fields specifically media sports marketing sales You know more things that have a very low percentage of Asians in it Basically, you're bound to be mixed up for like 50 other people. Yeah So let's talk about why it's actually so bad what it actually means at its core when you break it down And then like who cares the most because I do think there is a generational divide I think young Asians while they are insulted by this instance Especially because Ali Wong is famous and like oh man finally the news cares about the personal life of an Asian person That's actually progress in and of itself right no, it's not perfect But then they couldn't Google things correctly, which is like ridiculous for a news source But anyways, I think the younger people might not care as much as the older people Yeah, I think the reason younger people don't care as much is because one It's less likely to happen to a younger person and not only that I think they kind of care less about the approval in I guess like white spaces that the 40 year old Asians and up You know, we're talking about the Asians that care what parade is a lot of young Asians don't even know what parade I don't know what parade. I didn't I'd never heard of it. Yeah, but you know like Asians who are sort of still locked into like the old days, you know, like the 40 50 60 year old Asian Americans They're probably like man, this has happened to us our whole lives and we made so much progress Just for them to not know who Randall Park is. Yeah Yeah, I mean it was MSN MSN is kind of like a like a boomer source. Yeah, I think that You know, but Jeff Yang in the article he does do a good job of talking about this like invisibility cloud That Asians have in like non-Asian spaces for example Justin Lin getting mistaken with Justin Lin is a very very rich famous movie director getting mistaken for being a Chinese delivery guy Like a food delivery guy on his own set You know examples like that There was different Indian anchors that were talking about oh, yo, they asked me to be on like Debate somebody really big on this issue and I wasn't even the right Indian. They were thinking about yeah We're not talking about instances where it's just like some random person on the street catches a glimpse of you and then mistaken your name This is actually like the workplace. These are actually like famous people. These are like the institutions are making this mistake So that's why I really think like it kind of reminds Asians that I don't know if it's like the facial features or whatever But a lot of people just kind of like look at our faces and they don't scan it with detail Yeah, I would say to them. They're just like it's just like a a tan blob. It possibly looks like Terence and Phillip You know how the Canadians in South Park are drawn with like much less detail than the actual South Park characters But here's the point is that anybody can mistaken you for anybody like I've had Asians mistaken me for other Asians Right, so it's not just like white people or black people that would do it to us But I'm just saying that it just shows that you don't really care that much You're not taking the time to really think and you don't feel like there's any repercussions for mistaken that person for someone else I remember growing up a lot of black people told me and my black friends told me that they used to get mistaken for other black people And this is like maybe like 25 years ago. I think in 2022 that's viewed as very taboo Yes, I think a lot of people are very careful to not mistaken the black person as someone else anymore But I think for Asians they still it's it kind of goes back to like how Asians are treated People just don't care to get things wrong with us. Like it's not a big deal. They're just like, oh my bad You're not that person. Oh my goodness. It's like it's like who cares if you insult an Asian It's not that big and I think there's a couple different reactions to it because I used to get mistaken for my manager Who was like many notches higher than me at Verizon when I was in college like my store manager Like the district manager would even come in and think that I was the manager, right? And I'm like dang you think I directly report to you. I'm like way lower than you on the scale But yeah, couldn't tell the difference. It's a quiet was like a white area. That's you in the little email profile picture, right? Right, right. I mean, I mean you guys were both East Asians, but of course regardless you guys didn't look that much alike Yeah, I was like, thank you for mistaking me for like somebody who makes like way more money You're like, no, trust me. I'm actually not that good of a worker. Yeah. Um, I think that there's different reactions to it I could have like dyed my hair and got piercings or tattoos or did anything I could that would make me seem in in the white gaze to be like a different Asian that doesn't fit their stereo To be more distinct. I mean, I know a lot of Asians who wear a loud clothing a lot of girls get like highlights or streaks Or like a belongs or whatever I mean, I think that's the reason why even someone like Eddie Wong like even dresses the way he does partially because he's just It's so loud and just different like it's just that it's you're not gonna get him mixed up with with another Asian Yeah, I do think that the younger Asians not only does it happen less to them But I think the younger Asians kind of care less because I see a lot of younger Asians entering non-corporate past Where they would basically could avoid this right? We mean younger like 20 like we're talking about like 20 years Entrepreneurs like much more common for like Asians under 30 than it was for 30 and up crowd Yeah, and that's what I noticed is that people who don't want to deal with sort of this like potential mix-ups And you know, so you have to sort of bite your tongue in corporate America Jeff Yang talks about that because he's like What are you gonna do try to rip down the whole structure as you're trying to rise up the structure like I think there's less people Wanting to deal with it. Yeah, but and again like this kind of goes back to the spaces that you want to be a part of and when those Spaces mix you up and don't care that much about your identity and get your name wrong Then you pretty much feel like those spaces don't care about you I've heard stories of like Asians who go to like a church that's predominantly not Asian, right? And then like they're going to the church and you're at a church, right? Like this is like a place to worship, you know, everybody is your community, whatever and then they still get Mistaken for other like Asian women at that church, but there's only like five Asian women, right? And it's like and it's like people are not used to scanning it We always said there was an analogy if you're not very familiar with pizza like maybe people in Asia Aren't don't have super high pizza IQ. You're gonna look at most pizza and be like, yeah, that's a pepperoni Oh, like all in New York, but it's like a New Yorker, and you know, like no You're like nah, that's got basil on it. The crust isn't too crispy like yeah, I don't think it's always malicious It's just about how much thought and analysis you've put On their face It's like how much do you care about getting this, right? And I just think it's insulting because a lot of people don't care if they get it wrong with Asians And that kind of goes back to all the other Asian issues of like people not caring about Asians or people Wanting to hurt Asians or when they hurt Asians they feel like they're not hurting like a real person You know what I mean? Yeah, it's kind of like it does it does connect back to it Of course, this is like on a pop this sort of like media level vague Terrence and philip Isation, you know, let's say western people get to be full south park characters And we're Terrence and Philip like the sticks figures like there's a lot of You know you could extrapolate to what it means to a lot of different sectors of society I think that that's kind of what Jeff yang was pointing at I think one thing he didn't do was talk about what people do to like Get out of that like 2d-ness and to become 3d Like I said, that's why people like try to do everything they can to be like identified with other things Whether like that's the cool like really hip hop Asian or that's like the blonde haired Asian or this is like the Rocker Asian with the purple bangs and the lip ring. I'll give people a small break here I remember going to the grocery store and you know how there's like the Asian grocery store the 99 ranch And you know how like there's a lot of like five-foot moms there and they all have black hair Like I've definitely mistaken other women for our mom before You know at least from the back where I was like, yo is that mom and then I'm like, oh wait I don't want to say it's like only on you know, white people or non-Asian people because we get mistaken all the time I mean one time and I will say this first of all shout out to Filipino people But for some reason there are some Filipinos that are not very good at recognizing Really? Oriental faces and I got called one time the craziest one Andrew Jet Li from Wong Fu So it was not a nightclub I think people are kind of late, you know, it's dark and stuff But regardless jet Li from Wong Fu is who is that? First of all jet Li is a real person. So you got mistaken for a real person But that is a crazy jet Li has never been in a Wong Fu video Um, well first of all us getting mistaken for Wong Fu is actually not a big deal That's totally understandable I think this Filipino guy he went up to me uh at a different party and he was like, yo You're a yang chao And then I was like You just called me the fried right you you would have took uh kev jumbo up just I would have taken steven. You and yeah, uh, just and chan kept any of them anything. Yeah But a plate of fried rice I think to me it goes back to like you said how much do you care? And then how much are you at the whim of your environment? American western society until recently hasn't really ranked asians uh with that much importance even though You know asians have important jobs and things of that nature They're sort of these faceless cogs in the machine And how do we step out of the background and into the spotlight and not to be like above other people But just to have our respect for what we've done I think is a good question and that was sort of you know my extrapolation of the jeff yag article Yeah, um, you know what makes it tough and i'm just gonna close off here This is kind of a funny point But a lot of people talk about if you talk to asian guys about hair They're like man, there's not that many hairstyles for asian guys man that look good So a lot of them end up getting similar hairstyles So it really doesn't help man and not listen. Oh if you man if you go to den social sometimes or like, uh If you go to any asian nightclub, listen, it's not going to end Here's my thing. It's not going to end and you just kind of got to deal with it You know like this has been happening for 50 60 years probably 70 years as long as asians have been in america And it's going to continue to happen to happen a little bit more So, you know find a way to deal with it and uh, yeah Do the little things if you want to be more distinct, but you can always you know Like I just think it's a generational thing though like the older generation that cannot recognize asian faces I do think is uh is aging and I do think that in a way like at first I couldn't understand why this article was going so hyper viral on social media Uh, but then I realized like not everybody was living in new york going through the subway shooter thing like we were Like, you know, literally we're like outriding like you know, is that him? Is that him? And it was crazy because we ended up was in china town but uh Like, um, you know, this is like something that's more like relatable I guess to regardless of whatever life you've lived Well, let me let me tell you this guys those news sources that called randall park alley wong's husband They're washed Those are washed new sources parade. I don't even know what that is. Anyways guys, uh Let me know in the comments down below if you guys think that this is a big deal Or not let us know if you have any stories about being mistaken for somebody whether that's in work or another setting Let us know because I think everybody has been mistaken for somebody else like at some point in their life And especially if you're asian, um, but yes, it happens to everybody. We understand that So, uh, please let us know in the comments down below. Thank you so much for watching We are the hot pop boys and until next time we out. Peace