Several groups dedicated to the inclusion and representation of Asian Americans have called for NBC to sever ties with comedian Jay Leno after he made a disparaging joke about Asians.
Leno, 69, joked about Asians eating dog meat during an appearance as a guest judge on America’s Got Talent in August. The joke, which was said on camera, was cut from the final episode. Both Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans have criticized Leno and called for the network to cut him loose.
“Jay Leno is a repeat offender in denigrating a part of our Asian American community and it must stop,” John C. Yang, president and executive director of Advancing Justice, said in a statement, according to Variety.
He went on to accuse Leno of a pattern of stereotyping Asians in his comedy, “whether it is his use of this offensive stereotype to talk about a Korean skater’s Olympic loss in 2002 — ’Kim Dong-sung was so upset, he went home, kicked his dog, then ate him!’ — or his apparent recent comment backstage at ‘America’s Got Talent’ where he remarked that pets in a photo looked like something one would find ‘on the menu at a Korean restaurant.’”
MANAA’s founding president Guy Aoki echoed that sentiment, alleging Leno has a “bizarre fixation with Asians eating dogs,” and called for the network to end his show Jay Leno’s Garage, which airs on CNBC.
“It took two conference calls, countless meetings with NBC executives, even admonishment from a high ranking NBC executive and two advertiser campaigns to get Jay Leno to stop after 10 years,” Aoki said in a statement. “Given that after all this time, Leno has been an unrepentant repeat offender … MANAA is asking NBC to end its business relationship with him.”
The joke that Leno made on the set of America’s Got Talent was included in reports about former show host Gabrielle Union, who claimed she was cut from the show after she was deemed difficult. Union, 47, alleged a “toxic culture” that included management not handling complaints appropriately. She was dismissed after one season on the show alongside Julianne Hough, who also only spent one season on the show.
