8 Asians

If you’ve watched as many Lakers games as I have, you’ve probably noticed that three seats to the right of Jack Nicholson for the past 20+ years sits an older Asian woman. She’s become somewhat of an Internet “celebrity.” She has her own Facebook page and even our friends over at Disgrasian mentioned her.

If you’ve never been to a Lakers home game, you might not know that being at the Staples Center during a game (especially courtside) is a who’s who of the rich and famous. That’s one of the reasons why this Asian woman has become such a sensation.  No one knows who she is, what she does, and maybe most importantly, how she can afford to sit courtside. According to one site I found, Jack Nicholson’s tickets costs $5,350 per seat per game – which doesn’t sound like a lot until you multiply it by 40 (the typical number of home games during the regular season).

I’m not really all that curious who she is. She’s never spoken out or made a statement, so she probably  just wants to be left in peace. She just wants to watch her favorite basketball team play. What interests me most are the conversations about her on various websites, forums, and blogs. Hell, even TMZ did an “investigation” on her:

The TMZ video makes light of something all these conversations about her have in common: a racist undertone. TMZ says that one rumor is that she is Tiger Woods’ mom and the only reason people think this is the fact that Tiger Woods’ mom is Asian. TMZ of course is being sarcastic but the sad fact is that a lot of people believe it. In addition to Tiger Woods’ mom, I read that she was Yao Ming’s mom, Sun Yue’s mom (a former Chinese Lakers guard), and many other famous/semi famous Asians’ mother. (It’s only a matter of time before she’s rumored to be Jeremy Lin’s mom/grandmother). The reason? Because she’s Asian and they are Asian.

But the racism doesn’t stop there. The word “short” is always used to describe her. She is also said to be “unemotional” and therefore some people imply she is not worthy of having such choice seats. Check out this YouTube video making fun of how she claps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGWF3HU8mDM&feature=youtube_gdata

On the surface, calling her short and unemotional might seem like harmless adjectives but those are some of the stereotypes of Asian people in general. That’s what makes me cringe. I wonder if they would use the same adjectives to describe other non-Asian fans sitting courtside. I doubt it. And besides what do people want from her? To fall down and scream when they lose? To kiss Kobe Bryant when they win? If she really has been watching Lakers game for the past 20 years, I’m pretty sure she’s seen it all. The fact that she’s been sitting in that seat for the past 20 years is good enough proof of her love of the Lakers.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset about any of this. I just wanted to point it out. But we are still left with the question: who is the Asian woman sitting courtside at Lakers home games?

Here are some of the most prevalent rumors I found:

• Courtside Asian Woman Bio – She’s Rich b/c she’s the daughter of a Japanese Oil Pipeline Tycoon & Invested in Westside Real Estate in 70s
• she is weton wu. got rich from dot.com in the 90′s apparently
• “I’ve met her, think her name is Yuki and the other lady is Kate … Sorry for the sparse info, but that’s all I’ve got.”
• She has something to do with real estate, possibly a real estate mogul in Beverly Hills or some expensive real estate area in Los Angeles. I also read that she married into money. I’ve also read that she’s been a season ticket holder for 30+ years, which means she attended the games back in the 1980s. The name people have called her in threads is “Yoko” and she has been seen escorted into a Mercedes Maybach at the end of the games.
• Apparently her name is Jet Woo Kim, and she is reportedly friends with Jack Nicholson

The best (and dare I say most reliable) article I found about her identity was on The Daily Truffle. This is what they had to say:

Next to Jack is Lou Adler, owner of The Roxy on Sunset which he has turned over to his son (L.A. native) Nic Adler to run. His other son, Cisco Adler is a musician in the band Swayze and was once known for dating (L.A. native) Kim Stewart, sister of Sean Stewart, both children of Rod Stewart. Just two seats down from Jack, is the infamous “Yori,” mistakenly identified as Jet Woo Kim on Lakers Nation forums. We are told her lovely seat mate is Kay. An ESPN blog identified them as Kay Harrington and Yori Saneyoshi, who owns the front row season tickets, for more than 20 years.

To see where the other celebrities sit, check out this seating chart from The Daily Truffle:

Case closed. Go Lakers. Oh and leave this poor woman alone and let her watch the Lakers game in peace.