Paramount Apologizes for Racism in “The Goods,” Pulls Scene from Trailer

By jozjozjoz | Monday, August 24, 2009 | View Comments

As a result of the protests staged last Friday by a coalition of Asian American groups, Paramount has issued an apology for using racist language in the trailer for “The Goods.” Nikkei View and Angry Asian Man have posted copies of the email that Paramount issued to the JACL which confirms that “the marketing tools in question had been pulled.” This means the “Pearl Harbor” scene no longer appears in the trailer. They don’t apologize for the hate crime; just at the use of the word “Japs.” The scene has not been removed from the film, but at least this apology from Paramount is a better one than the original, “We’re sorry you were offended” apology that was previously issued. At least now we don’t have to be subjected to this stupid hate crime scene unless we are dumb enough to shell out money to see the film in theaters or buy the DVD. (More pictures of the protest on the MANAA blog)

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YvesPaul

Not to be the devil's advocate, but I wonder instead of giving proper respect to Asian characters from now on, would they just not utilize Asian actors or stop having Asian characters altogether. It'd be a shame if they get rid of them altogether.
jozjozjoz

YvesPaul,

You've hit upon another touchy issue. Hollywood has been "whitewashing" movies by casting white actors in roles that could/should have been for Asian actors. (See "21" or "Avatar: The Last Airbender")

With this protest, no one is advocating that Asian characters not be depicted in movies. The solution most certainly is not to erase Asians from this or any other movie. The issue is HOW Asian characters are being used and depicted in films.

One major goal of the protest is to open up the dialogue with the studio about these depictions and to open the lines of communication so that there is input from the Asian American community of how we are depicted in the media. Better yet, let's see more Asian Americans in the Hollywood system having more direct control over the creation of content.
gthro123

Damn, that's real good! It's so encouraging to hear asians gettin the voice out! We gainin strength now :)

8 Asians