 Is legendary comedian Steven Chow about to get canceled over this Instagram post? Or is it just an innocent translation mishap? You know the most important criteria that you must meet for applying for my movie is just don't be ugly, okay? Andrew, this caused a little bit of an internet dust-up as silly as it was. We're talking about Steven Chow, Andrew, the legendary comedic director and actor from Hong Kong. He did, you know, Shaolin soccer kung fu hustle. He's doing a women's version of Shaolin soccer. But his casting call, both in Chinese and English, caused a little controversy. Yeah, so he made an Instagram post on his personal Instagram and in Cantonese, which is written a little bit differently than Mandarin in Chinese even, it has one message and then it has a direct translation at the bottom. But the translation is what's getting him in a little bit of trouble right now. So please, we're going to go to the comments section, hit that like button, check out other episodes of the hotpot boys from silly series. We're talking about it all. I guess this is a little bit more silly. But some people are asking, some people are mad and saying, oh, Steven Chow is misogynistic for this. This goes along with the image or oh, he's too old school. And some people are like, ah, it's a translation issue. And then other people were like saying, why are we holding Asia to the same PC woke standards that we hold the Western world? And there's a whole argument of, uh, is being woke in general okay, or is it okay for the West and it's just not applicable to the East? Should every culture be allowed to run their system? However they want to run it. Make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications. Andrew, why don't you go ahead and read the translation of the post? I mean, the first sentence in Chinese in Cantonese says, 今天, 今天, 今天, 今天, 今天, 今天, 今天, which is just like, yeah, today I have a wish. I can't really read the rest, but it got translated differently. Thank you for that brief translation, David. But yeah, so here's what he posted in his Instagram post, right below the Chinese. It goes, you know, I have one wish today on my birthday to spend a good time with so many pretty girls, young, beautiful, smart, curvy, athletic. All countries are welcome. The more, the better. Let's people mountain, people see. Just don't be ugly. For those who are qualified, please send recent photos to blah, blah, blah. Photoshop photos will never work. It will be condemned by us and the United Nations. Not the United Nations. Tao Xingte is calling the UN on any girls. All right. So before we get in the comment section, I have some quick thoughts. I'm going to leave with you guys. First of all, I think in Cantonese, it reads differently, right? Obviously, like Lang Loi is like a common term that everybody's, they call us Langtai at the restaurant. Whether you're good looking or not, you're Langtai Lang Loi. You beat up. Yeah. I mean, I feel like if they do think you're good looking, they say it a little differently. But yeah, essentially, it's just a term for like young man, young woman. But anyways, I think the part to me that is a little bit triggering to people, I guess is the, you know, don't apply unless you are elegant or good looking. He doesn't really use the word ugly in Cantonese, but it's like elegant, good looking fit, right? But he translated it as ugly. He doesn't use the word yukxun, which is like the slang for ugly. Yukxun would be like the more harsh actual term for ugly. Now, here's my thing. I just think as a Hong Konger who does speak some English, if he did not mean for this to be funny and go viral, then they need to do a better job of translating. But do you think he was strong? They speak English in Hong Kong. But do you think he was trying to be funny because he's like the yunsan yunhoi, which is just like I need people as big as the mountain, as wide as the sea to apply. He's like, he's like people see, don't be ugly. Hey, look at that. I made a rhyme. I'm like rapping. Yeah, the little United Nations line at the end kind of like made me laugh. So I think, I don't know, is this a ploy to just be funny and have this post go viral and he's going to take the heat along with it. Let's get into the comments section, David, and see what other people are saying. Someone said she's Asian humor or not. This is cringe in this day and age. His comments about casting need a PC checkup. Oh, this is his birthday wishes to spend time with pretty girls. Yikes. Some people were mad and offended, right? Because he talks a lot about female beauty. He does sort of stress it. I think, obviously, this is probably still true in Hollywood, but people in the West, they don't want to say it. Yeah, I mean, I would say one trope in his movies that's very common is like, he has a good-looking actress, but he does make up to make them look uglier. This is kind of a gag that you see on a lot of YouTube channels. It's kind of like younger type of comedy. I guess you would say like maybe advanced slapstick or like a kind of like a classic bait and switch like from the 1960s type comedy. And do old Asian uncles that are like over the age of 50 or 60 years old, should people even expect them to be with the 2023? Like, you know, times or the tone or the narrative or the- I think you'd have to look at their track record and reputation overall, but also I do think it's funny that Asian casting posts is getting judged by the Western woke world, but it is what it is because it was on Instagram and he did use English. So, he gave the translation in English for everybody to see. If these girls that are mad watch the god of cookery or the god of gamblers, then they can criticize them. Somebody said, what the f? That's so creepy for him to abuse power like that to meet pretty girls. For young women who want to get into the entertainment industry, who will trial for the movie, this can negatively affect their self-esteem, especially if they're rejected because they didn't meet child standards. This is a disgusting man looking to fulfill a harem fantasy that he's for a lack of better term for, too old for. This man is Homsup low. I learned that from my Cantonese friend, which is a wet, salty pervert man. Yeah. I would say definitely the English translation does sound a little bit creepy. And isn't it a little Homsup? Yeah, but maybe I don't know if that's the character he was in when he made the post. Like I'm just saying it's Steven Chao, but of course I wouldn't have wrote the post that way. I wouldn't. Somebody said he's the Scorsese of Chinese comedy and Chinese culture is just not overly woke like us. I'm sure if he's making a PSA like that, he's not just trying to sleep with girls. He's trying to make a comedic masterpiece that will last for another 20 years. You know what, David? I had this theory that I think that this casting call is actually more for extras because this is what you would do for extra, if you need to fill up the background with pretty girls. You'd be like, yeah, okay. So I need like a number of good fit pretty girls in the background, but I have my main cast already and they are a group of very talented and funny women no matter how they look. Yeah, I think it's a way to build anticipation for a movie as well. Sort of like when CRA had an open casting call and I think they got like 170,000 submissions or something like that. Andrew, if you apply for a movie when it comes out, you're not gonna watch it. That's a good point. Somebody said, bruh, he's just speaking the truth. The entertainment industry is full of attractive people. And someone said, yeah, that might be true, but there are other people from various backgrounds of physical features too and someone's like, ah, I just can't take the wokeness. People are policing the actors and actresses being good looking now. No, I mean, it is true that I think in the Western media, they're not only looking for beautiful faces anymore. Like nowadays, I do think it more in Hollywood, at least in America, it does depend a little bit more on talent and what characters you're bringing in. You're saying there's less Baywatch-ness from back in the day. Baywatch was a show that was famous for just getting 10 out of 10 people who could not act, right? It's less blatantly about good looks now and I think the Hong Kong industry is a little bit behind. Although this could have been a funny post, but yeah, I mean, you know, it is show business. So if you could still apply, I think any type of woman should still apply. Someone said, if you guys really speak Cantonese, you know that nobody in the Chinese world was worried about whether this was problematic or not, man or woman. Right, I think, again, it reads differently in Cantonese. Now, what should get them canceled is if some unattractive women do apply and then they reply back in the email saying, oh man, you are not good looking. Did you read the original post? But you are not even following basic initial criteria. How successful will you be in life if you cannot follow the instructions? Listen, that should get them canceled 100%. Somebody said Steven Chow is a well-known womanizer and has ties to the triads in Hong Kong. Man, I feel like every big actor in Hong Kong, well, to be honest, the entire entertainment industry in Hong Kong is still heavily interfacing with the drug. I don't wanna like rain on people's parades. I'm not saying Michelle Yeo is a womanizer, but I'm saying she has come in contact with probably people of the industry and you know, there's all different types of people out there. Every world is run by somebody in the background. I don't know if that's a big knock. Somebody said, oh man, here comes the entitled Western feminist snowflakes trying to apply this to a Eastern director who is by the way just directing movies in Chinese. Somebody else said, oh, you're a snowflake triggered by these snowflakes. That makes you even a bigger snowflake. And this just went back and forth. Andrew, how can a casting call in the Chinese language just turn into woke versus anti-woke in 2023? You're saying that you are surprised that a Cantonese casting call turned into a political debate in America. Right, about two competing American political factions. Right, but you know what, in Asia, they don't fight about this as much. Like woke versus un-woke, I think it is a discussion, but it's really not that big of a deal, right? It's not that heated of an argument. Yeah, yeah, on both sides, almost like the, it's more like a friendly volley, like, okay, you hit the ball to me, I'm going to hit the ball back. But you know, in America, it's like, ah! You know why man, Asia's different, man. I think in Hong Kong, they're just like, yeah, you know, you just don't kill anybody, don't sexually assault anybody, and you know, just be nice to people and let people live, and then we don't care. No, let them eat some yummy food. Yeah, everybody just eat yummy food together and just don't do bad things, and who cares? Yeah, nobody talk to each other, right? I'm not saying it's right or wrong. You know, obviously I do think Asia is behind in progressive, you know. Yeah, because they just don't want to talk about some things, right? They just don't, it's just not as big of a deal, I guess, you know? Yeah, it's just like, don't talk about these things. Anyway, moving on, Andrew, I guess what are your final takeaways, Andrew? Is it interesting to see Steve and Chow still relevant after 20, 30, 40 years, you know? But you know, he's keeping up with the times. I'll tell you this, man, he's not getting canceled and he's not in hot water by the HK industry, but I do think this does drum up some anticipation for the movie. Also, you know, the women who are attractive and will apply, I don't think that this is gonna deter them. I don't think that he is necessarily like a horrible guy. I mean, he's worked in the industry that long. But he probably is old school, right? Yeah, he's probably old school. I believe it, you know? And old school people, he's 61 years old. So anybody of that age is definitely gonna say this thing. That doesn't excuse him and you can be mad, but also just so you know, you being mad and leaving this comment doesn't do anything. That movie's coming out and a bunch of people are gonna watch it. And you'll see if it's problematic or not. What do you think about the people getting mad that he explicitly said he's looking for really attractive, athletic, like curvy women who sort of fit that, you know, I guess like hot World Cup player stereotype. Well, then it looks like they could play sports. Again, every single music video ever made. Literally every single music video ever made. Get mad at Drake, right? For if you make 50 Drake videos. And every artist, you know? But I think it was like the jokey harsh mean tone that it was in, you know? So again, I wouldn't have made this post, but I'm also not Stephen Chow. Yeah. I mean, you know, even in Hollywood today, Andrew, they would never say it. Adam Sandler, Seth, Rogan, Jonah Hill, they're still paired up with like some baddies. Whereas like it seems like there's like a pretty big gap between them. Yeah. I mean, I would say I watched that movie Joyride with the, with all the Asian female cast. And let's just say there's some really good looking dudes in that movie. Right. So they're kind of doing the girl, possibly a flip on the bro movie, the hangover movie. Anyways, you guys, let us know in the comments down below. Is this, is it fair to judge his post because he did provide his English translation? It's posted by him. So should you judge him or is this like trying to judge like international posts? Is it kind of like, you know, countries don't want to extradite. So it's like you're extraditing a post to like analyze it if it's woke or not. I don't know. I think that there's so many different ways that you can look at that. You could go by the standards of the youth in the West. You can go by the general's overall like median age standard in the West. You could say the East should stay the East or you should say, nope, this is what we're doing. We're shifting as a globe now in 2023 and everybody has a different perspective, Andrew. And maybe that's why there's so much arguing online. All right guys, we're going to close it up there. Let us know in the comments down below what you think. And until next time, we out. Peace.