Fox Sports Airs Racist USC Video, Then Apologizes

By Moye | Wednesday, September 7, 2011 | 22 Comments

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http://youtu.be/nHbcgo1ZkyI

Fox Sports thought this video of reporter Bob Oschack visiting the USC campus for man on the street interviews with Asian college students would be hilarious. The Internet thought otherwise and last Saturday, Fox Sports issued an apology to “the entire USC community” for airing the piece.

The video features Oschack asking USC students about their thoughts on the University of Colorado and University of Utah joining the Pac-12 Conference. The funny part was supposed to be the fact that he only interviewed Asian students who had trouble understanding what he was asking, knew nothing about American sports and spoke with strong enough accents to make their English sound hilarious. Wait, that’s supposed to be funny?

Oschack’s skit is more cringe worthy than hilarious, mostly because of the student’s clear eagerness to be interviewed and listen to whatever he had to say. Also, what’s Fox Sports trying to say about USC, that it’s a campus full of foreigners who don’t watch football? That their sports championships are meaningless to the student body?

Maybe the comedy gold is in the idea that Asians and Asian Americans don’t care about sports. Yes, that has to be it. Despite the fact that we’re obsessed about Jeremy Lin playing for the Golden State Warriors, that there was a little guy named Yao Ming in the NBA or that occasionally, someone from Japan plays on our baseball teams. Oh, and we play professional soccer around the world, too.

Also, why is Fox Sports’ apology only directed at USC? Does this mean that this video was only offensive to their students and not other Asian Americans? Somehow this makes me think that even after the uproar online, the network has missed the point on how annoyingly wrong Bob Oschack’s video was to our community.

Whatever the “punch line” is supposed to be, this isn’t about sports. This is about Fox Sports trying to pull off an overused and derogatory skit about foreign accents and stereotypes. This joke has been done so many times that I’m more offended over how unoriginal this style of humor than his mocking of college students. Listen, Oschack. It’s 2011. Hollywood has been trying to make fun of fobby Asians for decades (see Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and guess what? No one is laughing. Try again.

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ComedyDiscriminationEntertainmentObservationsSports

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TienVNguyen

This is absolutely stunning and unbelievable. I agree 100% with everything you said above, I have absolutely no idea how the mainstream media could actually put something like this together–it’s one thing in this user generated content world of ours for an individual to put something like this together, for a “legit” form of media to do is absolutely baffling.

That said i doubt the level of outrage will be much at all, comparably if say they asked a bunch of blacks their thoughts on organic chemistry or linear algebra.
maryt

It can only be funny when Asians make fun of themselves. What was Fox Sports even thinking? You are so right, they make it seem like USC’s student body is comprised of foreigners. It’s really rude how Oschack corrected the interviewees when they talked and asked what were they even trying to say.
raymonst

it’s fox news. par of the course for them.
Transcendence

I like how you’re defending how Fox Sports trolls non-suspecting people who most likely had no idea as to the true purpose of why they were being videotaped. I also like how you point out how rude it is to go targeting people that are new to English in order to correct their mistakes in speaking a new language for them. Everyone in the world should be able to speak English perfectly right?

I mean, why not go pick on handicapped people for being handicapped while we’re at it. How about dangling food out of reach of a person in a wheelchair? That ought to be really funny to anyone who finds this piece of junk funny. Handicapped people deserve it just like how people who haven’t learned to speak English perfectly deserve to be mocked. It’s not like it takes time to learn a new language or that we (people who have lived in the US our whole lives) have years and years of practice with English over them. Yes, let’s go out there and mock everyone that different from us.
TienVNguyen

@raymonst Not to defend the Murdoch empire but Fox News, Fox Sports, and FX/FOX Tv which brings us the Simpsons, The League, Family Guy and much more “liberal” entertainment are not necessarily interconnected to each other.
VanCityNights

@marytam yeah, i don’t understand what the point of that segment was for fox sports. so asian foreigners don’t know much about football…hint to fox: nobody outside of the US really does.

frankly, i don’t get what the big deal about college football is anyways. if USC’s football team is what that school is known for and what makes them cool, that’s a red flag that it’s probably a really lame school. if the highlight of the campus’ social scene is to bbq in a parking lot, then go watch non-pro level football – avoid that school. that’s what everyone else on the globe would describe as a really lame time.

if a school has a load of money to blow. don’t blow it on football. build nice student housing, ridiculous bars for students to go to, or throw a big concert.
itzagudwun

err.. @VanCityNights how did this become a flame against USC? USC offers competitive education/degree as well as a world class football team. I didn’t know that offering “ridiculous bars or throwing big concerts” were mutually exclusive to football. Football actually generates profit/revenue to support said concerts, housing, and bars. Please, focus your blind rage on FOX, and not COLLEGE FOOTBALL as a general entity. Thanks.
http://www.8Asians.com/ jozjozjoz

@itzagudwun Wow. I didn’t read the comment by @VanCityNights , but based on your response, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to do the 8-clap now and yell “GO BRUINS!”
Rtablit

I think this is just reverse psychology so to speak to show how good Fox Sports attempts to be while MurDoch is being dragged over the coals and nails pulled out and his forehead dripped on by the English while his Asian wife slaps anyone that plays slapstick with him.
http://www.8asians.com/author/akrypti/ akrypti

“It will be an exciting semester for them.” I love that line for so many reasons. Also, that “Fighting!” comment makes sense when one plays Starcraft with Koreans.
VanCityNights

@itzagudwun you realize that USC’s football program has had numerous NCAA infractions and has been investigated for corruption right? Pete Carroll and Reggie Bush are 2 perfect examples of everything wrong with college football. And there’s a reason why every other college outside the US doesn’t pour that amount of money into college football. the fact that Fox is going “omgah, they’re asian and foreign, they don’t know anything about football look how uncool” just makes my point to how backwards it all is and what’s considered “cool” at US colleges.

also, not all D.1. programs make enough money to generate revenue for other activities. some do, some don’t, but most spend a ridiculous amount of money into the team that could go to more important things. i’ve visited big US schools, and they do not party hard at all. They think they do, but all the college kids I’ve met from Australia/Canada/Europe were shocked at how dull the campus parties were (and the American kids that have partied in Canada were shocked by how much better it was). also, if a college runs a concert or campus nightclub/bar correctly, it’ll make money just fine by itself – and it won’t involve infractions against the NCAA
mwei

@TienVNguyen

wow! they could be asking a bunch of Asians their thoughts on organic chemistry or linear algebra and it wouldn’t been any different. Asians in economics and business wouldn’t be any wiser.

“Faux News” as a legit form of media? this segment is just another run of the mill heavily edited and censored propaganda.
mwei

@VanCityNights @itzagudwun speaking as a former Gator, I’m not impressed with “the Cali scene” whatsoever.
moye

@mwei This is Fox Sports, not Fox News.
http://www.twitter.com/JoshSzrmeiack JoshSzmezrmeck

Oh look…more White people making fun of Asian Americans….It’s sad that this doesn’t surprise me :/
http://www.rahatahmed.com/ dequinix

This would have been considerably more outrageous if these were Asian-Americans using a fake “Asian” accent. But instead, they’re simply being interviewed. It’s in bad taste, yes, but, at least on the surface, there doesn’t seem to be any ill intent. The Fox News comparisons are quite a reach, especially since Fox Sports is far from “conservative” (just compare their NFL coverage vs. the ones from NBC or CBS).
moye

@dequinix You’re right, the video would have been more outrageous and over the top if this was a scripted skit with actors and fake accents. But I think the misguided attempt at humor is worse when the participants (the Asian students) are being made fun of without their knowledge. It’s just outright mean.
mwei

the most offensive thing about it is that it’s not even funny. seems like white people have lost the fine art of racist humor in the past decade or so.
mwei

@moye I fail to see the distinction between the two.
EmilyElaineDzenowski

Another cheap shot from Fox. Why am I not surprised? -_- I wonder, do they really think they no one is going to notice or care about how blatantly racist some of their “stories” are?
itzagudwun

@VanCityNights Your initial argument wasn’t whether or not OSU, USC, or UMiami had infractions against their programs or not, it was whether a school could have a football program with world class education and social life. USC, OSU, and UMiami generates PROFITS for their school; and in turn reinvest it into their school. And the highlight of their social scene is not tailgating on saturday afternoons. Let’s look at @mwei; Florida is much more crazy about their football, and they’re not impressed by “the Cali scene!” There could be a positive correlation between partying and having bomb football programs! The reason why schools outside US don’t pour that kind of money into football is because they don’t like making money. I’m just kidding. They wouldn’t be able to generate profits like USC does. I don’t know what programs you’re looking at, but even Duke, who is famous for basketball, bleeds red ink into Cameron, but generates solid black ink when it comes to football, and they stink.

Plus, as a student who’s trying to earn a degree, as much as I love to have a vivid social life. I honestly don’t give a fuck if there are clubs or super ragers or not, just give me good professors, class sizes, etc. etc. Everything else, especially in the long run, is irrelevant. I’m of an age where I can go to some club and don’t have to stay on some LA campus to get drunk or rage. If at all. Please. Now you’re just stereotyping college students as kids who want to get as drunk as possible on as many days of the week. I value a strong football program over parties. I go to a DIII lib arts college and we have alch, and there’s solid parties everywhere. I don’t get to watch football. I value DI Pac-12 Football over parties.btw, just to keep on topic, Eff Fox Sports. Racist bastards.
http://tinabot.blogspot.com/ TinaTsai

Wow, that video was just awkward. Seriously, do Fox viewers actually find that funny? Some guy just has to get up and say “Long time no see dear my friend” and that’ll bring the house down? I’m really curious to meet someone that that video actually entertained.

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