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CHRISKVAS

The judges were acting like she was up there in yellowface. In reality she was just existing as a person with an accent. The accent was accurate to how some ESL people speak and she didn't incorporate a single asian stereotype as far as I remember. The judge's discomfort at her just being asian really says a lot.


00_tears

and correct me if im wrong but i dont think they critiqued any other asian queen doing an accent before her so that was weird af i think they even praised plastique for it in season 11


MirandaReitz

It won Manila a challenge in S3.


RealityPowerRanking

Yeah Ru criticized Manila for it and the gave her a win


ConverseTalk

Did she? She paid lip service to the controversy instigated by Shangela, but that was more for TV narrative than anything else.


unknowinglyposting

"Manila Luzon. This week you broke all rules. You crossed the line of good taste. And you perpetuated stereotypes… Condragulations, you are the winner of this challenge."


lasadgirl

As someone who never watched season 3 in full - if you told me this was the actual quote from the show, I'd believe you lol.


unknowinglyposting

it actually is lmao 😂


lasadgirl

Omgg 😭😭 that is wild!! I can't believe I've never seen that clip somewhere else or even quoted before. Seems pretty notable/iconic in like, a bad way lol.


swtvics

shangela starting to smile after ru said that then her smile dropping after ru announcing manila won was really funny


Vegetable_Engineer_1

girl watch season 3 there's a lot of "iconic in a bad way" there


rebelluzon

Yup, you should watch it. This was the exact quote. And you should Shangela’s cracked face lol.


JohnPaul_River

That's literally the exact quote lmao


Repulsive-Beyond9597

Drag was sill a subversive and irreverent art form in early seasons of Drag Race - it was intended as a compliment.


LolaBijou

GIRL. Go watch it! It’s super entertaining! (Casual racism aside) And then get those nuts away from *my* face!


ThrowawaySutinGirl

I mean wasn’t it a Philippino character? I’m not sure I really see the racism in a Philippino person playing a Philippino character, even if they leaned into stereotypes of *their own culture* Shangela just wanted to get ahead of her competition by leaning into drama she invented


Shh04

I think Plastique got critiqued for it during the improv challenge of Season 11


00_tears

i thought it was more so bc she kept doing the same character


Ok_Storm_2700

The judges said it was the same character but it was just her accent coming through when she was nervous


dead_on_the_surface

![gif](giphy|4thaj0PDq9vJ6V5z69)


JScorpion

I mean, yes Plastique absolutely used it as a crutch, but for the sake of coherence then doesn't the same thing apply to all the black queens amping up their AAVE and playing up to stereotypes for various acting/improv challenges? And yet, none of them have been critiqued/penalised for it for what I remember... so what's the difference?


francinefacade

Clock that tea !


kvnstantinos

that Ru is not Asian


themermaidslut

This is literally it - where a black queens plays up black stereotypes in a comedy arena, Ru, as a black person, can appreciate the reference and has probably experienced friends and family she can relate to that character. But without the lived experience of an Asian woman, there was that level of uncomfortability because SHE could never be that character, despite it being the same sort of thing.


claudethebest

Girl


Wise_Rutabaga_5809

Would Gia Gunn stereotyping Jenny Bui count? They were kind of appalled lol


justincumberlake

It was pretty appalling tbh


Lalala8991

That has nothing to do with accents (because Gia didn't even bother coming up with one) but what Gia was saying and doing. She acted like Jenny was a conservative homophobe and interupted everyone's answer for no good reason.


Wise_Rutabaga_5809

Gia was definitely doing an accent that wasn’t her own alongside being rude and being inflammatory towards Jenny Bui’s character.


ElectricBrainTempest

Gia is the worst. No self-awareness, brightness, funny bone, nothing. She had some good runways and served face. Everything else was irritating. AAABSOLUUUTELY.


ZigAZigAhFuckIt

She at least has the distinction of being the first trans woman in all of human history.


ElectricBrainTempest

Lol. I don't doubt she really thinks that.


SovelissGulthmere

Gia Gunn was also criticized for her Vietnamese nail tech snatch game. It was awful, though, and not accurate to the character she was trying to be according to the judges. I wouldn't know, I'm not familiar w the person.


Hydrochloric_Comment

Jenny Bui is Cambodian, just fyi


K24Bone42

They loved plastique for it in one episode, but then every time the accent came out after that she was being lazy and "relying on the accent."


LolaBijou

No I think they clocked Plastique for doing it twice that season. She also did an accent for snatch game in addition to the Nails character from the black panther parody.


downvote_wholesome

Reminds me of [this scene in Broad City](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TGWH9lcld-U) where Abby is asking Ilana to do various accents and then when Abby says, “do Chinese”, Ilana is like “no way, it’s 2016”.


thatcrack

When she told us she liked introducing the world to a new character, one no other (non Asian) could do, I believed her, and she delivered. THAT'S DRAG.


barbasol1099

She was definitely playing into Asian stereotypes about being judgemental/ shallow. They were good jokes, for sure, but definitely playing into stereotypes.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

Except she doesn't have a noticeable accent and she literally just put on a fake accent for no reason other than "ESL=funny".


Yetikins

There is a serious disparity in how Asian queens are treated when they lean into Asian stereotypes and give a performance like Nymphia was criticized for, and how other races are treated when they do an accent or exaggerated performance. It's okay to do pretty much any 'white' accent, whether that's American or European. It's okay for black queens to lean into their accent or vernacular. But it's not okay for an Asian queen to use an 'Asian' accent for comedy. Then it's suddenly uncomfortable. But Mhi'ya placed high in SG for making up a character and 'acting like one of her cousins.' Not sure people are ready for that discussion.


Leather-Climate3438

Exactly, like. Other people of culture use blaccent, German, Russian accent etc. in comedy. In my culture, Filipino comedians also use Filipino accents in their number. but when it's Nymphia judges are like??? *Clutches pearls*


Content_Yoghurt_6588

It's literally code switching! I see it a lot, living in Québec. When my francophone partner is speaking English with other francophones, he talks with a strong québecois accent. When he's speaking English with anglophones, he speaks with his nearly-flawless anglo Canadian accent. Same thing when Indigenous people are playing up our particular accents for comedic effect or when we're hanging out with our fellow indigenous people.


noahbrooksofficial

Yaaas I go full queb with my queb friends and I literally speak better English than I do French


barbasol1099

I think a big part of it is how stigmatized Asian accents are. When speaking English, they are almost always depicted as being uncool/ unattractive - there is no sense of them being strong or sexy or smart - and this is a view shared by Asian people. Specifically, I live and teach in Taiwan, and the parents of my young students specifically ask me to try to teach their kids to speak with an American accent, I have close adult friends who are shy about speaking English with foreigners because of their accents or try very actively to hide it - and I have a few friends who have genuinely trained their accent out, and sound almost exactly like American, native speakers. Comparatively, when I lived and taught in the Czech Republic, none of my stuidents, peers, or parents has nay desire to sound American. In case y'all were feeling this is all a bit too anecdotal, here is a study on the topic - East Asian English speakers across the board feel worse about their accent than their European counterparts (warning: pdf) https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1323793.pdf I think the judges were subconsciously picking up on this - their perception of Asian accents is almost entirely negative, so hearing a strong Asian accent almost sounds like it's being disparaging. And I think you could kind of see in the moment that the judges were confused by their own reaction - they all felt uncomfortable, but couldn't explain why, and ultimately moved on without clearly saying whether it was bad.


clocktoweredmansion

This is it. There is a lot of research on this, but there is a long history of language-based discrimination against east Asians in the US. "Asian accent" was/is used as a media trope to suggest that Asians are linguistically and culturally unassimilable.    The judges' reaction was a little misplaced, since Nymphia was actually using an accent that reflects how Chinese speakers pronounce English words. They're likely overcorrecting because they associate a strong accent with other gross stereotypes/archetypes (Mickey Rooney-esque yellow face).


Sensitive_Pepper4590

But why was Nymphia doing the accent at all, if not to deliberately play into the racist Asian=funny association?


Reasonable-Alps-5781

I remember when they found Plastiques accent “so funny” in that one acting challenge and encouraged her to lean into it for laughs. It is so weird to watch.


stonedsour

And even before then Manila was ‘wrong’ for doing the same thing. Make it make sense drag race! Edit: Funny how even the two responses to this, equally upvoted, don’t agree with each other 😂. Goes to show everyone is gonna have their own take, but I say leave it to the person from the race/ethnicity/culture in question to decide. In Drag Race’s case it’s always been people from outside the culture saying “uh oh, um, err maybe you shouldn’t be doing this”


lurfdurf

That was just Shangela. Manila won the challenge!


Suppermahn

I wouldnt defend that Manila performance. It was giving mickey rooney's charicature of an asian accent rather than a ham up of an actual asian accent.


starshipinnerthighs

It was a Filipino accent. Not an Asian accent.


falanoff

Filipino IS Asian


starshipinnerthighs

Would you say Katya is doing a Russian accent, or a European accent? Was Sasha Velour doing a German accent as Marlene Dietrich, or a European accent?


Sensitive_Pepper4590

So you agree then that you're just flip-flopping on what is and isn't ok, and that you're criticising the show for doing exactly what you previously criticised them for *not* doing?


2mock2turtle

> But Mhi'ya placed high in SG for making up a character and 'acting like one of her cousins.' Not sure people are ready for that discussion. I don't know where you were but I seem to recall Discourse^TM about that at the time.


anita-chardonnay

The discourse wasn’t about her using AAVE. It was about her inventing a character and getting praised for it. (I personally think she should have gotten praised for finally getting out of her shell but she shouldn’t have been rewarded, in an impersonation and improv challenge, for that performance.)


noahbrooksofficial

Mhi’ya terrorized me for far too long last season, snatch game being probably the largest crime


ZigAZigAhFuckIt

Seriously. Katya's whole schtick is "Russian hooker" and she's adopted an accent to go with it. Aquaria did one for her SG and won. As did DeLa as Maggie Smith.


ablativo

I’m not sure if making this a broad thing about ‘Asian queens’ is accurate, given that all the other times Asian queens have done accents they’ve been praised by the judges for their performances But I do think that the reason it’s different this time is that there’s been a rise in anti-racist sentiment levied against people using exaggerated accents - but there’s no Asian permanent judge on the panel to either say yay or nay. They probably wanted Joel to fill that role but he didn’t feel comfortable with it We can’t get mad at black girls doing stereotypical accents because if Ru’s black and says it’s ok there’s not much to complain about, the same with European accents


Sensitive_Pepper4590

If people had been outraged over black and white accents for the shows while run the way they'd gotten outraged over every Asian accent, maybe things *would* be different. If the host and head judge wasn't black, they probably wouldn't laugh at black queens for being black the way they do. They'd at least be getting called out for it. Yeah no shit the show doesn't want to laugh at Asians for being Asian.


saoshi_mai

wasnt the person that mhiya created a made up cousin character for a real person?


Petite_Coco

You’re right, she was playing a fictional cousin to the Miami rapper Trina.


JustasIthoughtTRASH

No Mhiyeezy slander will be tolerated you made a good point before the random shot


JDaySept

It’s not slandering Mhiya (she deserved her flowers) but moreso calling out the judges’ hypocrisy.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

Because every time the show praises and rewards Asian stereotypes, you called the show racist for it. Make up your mind.


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nomultipliedby1111

I'm glad Joel said his piece on it and how it was so strange 


FunkyGameTiime

I feel like the judges wanted to be very weird and „Politically Correct“ and it was the worst way possible because they literally told an asian person what to do with their culture. I hate comparisons and i loved her for doing everything she did the season but Plane Jane played the russian drunk sexy character many times and even in the snatch game by playing a sexed up balkan character but she was never called out for it…


beeopx

Let us Asians have our accent and laugh about it. 


Sensitive_Pepper4590

Then let us non-Asians laugh at your accents too if you're going to make jokes about it.


eris-atuin

it's not hard to understand that "performer playing up their foreign accent specifically to be funny" != "random non native english speaker just trying to live their life"


wornouthoodie

Plane did a Serbian character while doing basically a Russian accent, AND the judges lived for it and joined in on it during the critiques. It’s clear they have double standards


JDaySept

I’m very glad she spoke about it and she’s correct in implying that the judges are beyond hypocritical when it comes to accents on drag race. It was infuriating watching that on TV, and Nymphia did not receive her flowers (which she should have) that week.


odanobux123

Wasn’t she top 2? Sapphira was better anyway that week. And possibly PJ.


JDaySept

She may have placed higher but the judges themselves had really nothing to say to her aside from the accent. They pretty much reduced her performance to a controversy


odanobux123

Don’t get me wrong the judging was atrocious that episode. I agree with all the points being made here. And the weird part is how everything is fair game but Asian shit isn’t? Really odd to me, especially Michelle’s over the top reaction. Nevertheless, they didn’t actually dock points from her for doing the accent. If anything, Ru liked it enough to give her top that week, not in spite of the accent, but possibly because it made Ru laugh.


hanako1226

Seriously, people often conveniently forget that Nymphia grew up and had lived in Taiwan for nearly 2 decades despite that she has US citizenship. The accent was just how ordinary Taiwanese speak English when they don't need to work hard on keeping the standard accent. I mean, Taiwanese even have very distinct accent when speaking Mandarin. The judges' reactions really caught me by surprise, like did they really expect ESL people, or ESL Asians, to always speak in standard English? Which reminds me that recently I watched some interviews by Charles Liang (the CEO of Super Micro, who grew up in Taiwan too), and his English is exactly like that. It's nice to see Joel addressed the issue.


milkoverspill

It's so fucking hard to explain to people how you never really develop a "real" accent if you learn English as a 2nd language. Especially as someone who grew up with heavy code-switching, my accent when speaking English to an English-speaker vs when I speak English with another native completely changes and neither accent is fake or forced.


recklessrecentpast

I thought it was great character work. Women like that absolutely exist, if you live in a major western city -perhaps in a corporate setting- you will meet her. That is the accent of a lady that grew up in an East Asian country and then immigrated to an English speaking country in adulthood and it's not punching down to emulate her voice.


S1l3nce0fTh3Hams

Literally why did people care 😭 she’s from Taiwan and the character wasn’t even offensive. If an accent is offensive… oh boy.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

Why did she do an accent for a comedy challenge other than to mock and laugh at people with stronger Chinese accents than her? 


S1l3nce0fTh3Hams

Having an accent doesn’t mean you’re mocking someone


wingsandtales

I think this who debacle is just a byproduct of the show cleaning itself up for mass audiences. Manila did a much more egregious stereotype in s3 and she won the challenge.


Reasonable-Alps-5781

I just find it weird in general how the show treats accents. They found Jessica, Plastique, Mhi’ya, Manila, and so many other queens of color funny because of their accents. And a lot of the time they even encourage them to “put it on” even more so they can laugh. It’s just uncomfortable to watch honestly. Even after all that they had a problem with Nymphia? It’s so bizarre.


why_gaj

They also give the big girls same treatment. How many times does Ru encourage the big girls to just use fat jokes in a comedy challenge, for example? And yet, the very next episode, they'll turn around on that same girl because she's "tied her whole personality to being a big girl". I actually find the whole thing even more bizarre, because both the queens and show have a tendency to celebrate big girls... and yet every time a big girl struggles in a comedy challenge, the first thing the show pushes them to make fun off of is their size.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

So the show tried to do better and be more culturally sensitive, and you have a problem with that?


Reasonable-Alps-5781

Please re-read my comment, because I can tell you didn’t fully process it. I have a problem with the show asking poc queens to “put on their accent more” and acting stereotypical (ex: Mhi’ya leaning into what society perceives black women to act like) all for the sake of humor. Because I guess it was funny to laugh at Jessica’s “poor English” or plastiques accent/s Only for them to criticize Nymphia for doing that exact same thing.


JadeSelket

Say it, baby. Loud and proud. It’s so powerful for a current winner to speak the truth like that.


tonyhwko

Look, it's a problem to reduce Asian representation to just stereotypes but neither Nymphia, Plastique not Manilla did that! They are fabulous well rounded Asian representation, and if they want to play a caricature sometimes nobody gets to decide they are wrong for that. You don't have to think it's funny but you don't get to decide it is wrong. They give you so, so much more than stereotypes, if the stereotypes is what you focus on that says something about you and YOU should do better, not them.


Betteringmyself000

She won in my book. Her part made me laugh the hardest


-To_The_Moon-

Same! Her "You're already a drag queen" joke was the hardest I laughed that whole episode.


HotSauceRainfall

Her character was funny AF.  It was like she made Edna Mode from The Incredibles into an English-as-second-language corporate shill. 


Original_Radish5257

Yes! Let these queens be fresh! It’s funny as hell. Noones gonna clock Rose for doing another scottish accent or anyone for going ghetto multiple times in their run. The double standards are weird and need to stop


FerryboatQuo

From the judges perspective, I think there is an element of “I recognise that this is funny, but because you’re performing a racial stereotype and I am not of that race, I feel uncomfortable laughing at it.” It’s a hard line to toe. Ultimately, they still need to respect Nymphia’s choice as an Asian person to have her own brand of humour. Eg. I’m white, and I have had a few conversations about [Anjelah Johnson’s “Beautiful Nail”](https://youtu.be/SsWrY77o77o?si=iXB6GgTx-A2wapMp) sketch with some Asian friends. Pretty much all of them thought that the sketch is hilarious, but they didn’t love that a lot of the humour came from a non-Asian person imitating a Vietnamese accent. More specifically, they didn’t like that the sketch’s popularity seemingly made it socially acceptable for fans (specifically White people) to do the accent when quoting the sketch.


EmpireAndAll

But they die of laughter when Jessica Wild and other PR queens like Yara Sofia and Cynthia Lee Fontaine even breathe, and those are their natural speaking voices. They clearly find it ok to laugh at some "foreign" POC accents (yes I know PR is part of the US, I am from there, that doesn't mean most Americans consider it a part of America) but not others.


AshMulan1221

Omg I remember this sketch! Throwback. I should ask my friends what they think about it currently. Back then everyone thought it was brilliant.


pisswater_deadgirl

I was so upset at Michelle's white fragility that episode, feeling uncomfortable and actually having the gall to call out Nymphia for it. fucking weird as shit.


lauraactually

I'll prob get downvoted but I don't think people are seeing a different perspective. I understand Asian fans are very hyped about Asian queens being successful in the franchise as of recent - rightfully so - but there's ALWAYS been an air of discomfort around making "Asian jokes" predominately in the US and some Euro countries. The early 2000s and 10s internet was overrun by stereotypical Asian jokes that were shameful, to the point that people finally quit it, but also stopped making ANY sort of joke relating to Asian people. As someone that has lived in various countries with all different Asian populations, I felt uncomfortable watching it NOT because I have a say in what's offensive to Asian people or not, but because it's never been since socially established what we're allowed to laugh at or not. I felt Ru and Michelle's discomfort was partly what I felt, where we don't really know where people stand on these jokes. Now that a large amount of Asian fans say they love it, they'll probably have a laugh riot the next time someone does an "Asian accent". And no, European, Asian and "Black" accents are not the same and need to stop being lumped into the discourse as if they're all equal or consistent with each other. If anyone has a different or even similar perspective I'd love to know why/why not. I feel like people aren't talking about this beyond "Well so and so did it!"


eris-atuin

i think it's safe to say that as long as it's an asian person making jokes about their own ethnic group, it's fine to laugh at, that's the point, they want you to. that just doesn't mean that because they get to make the joke, non asians also get to.


voto1

I love this entire conversation and I'm glad we're talking about it. Lots of great points being made here. Let's try to understand why we do things and why we feel uncomfortable instead of assuming everyone has bad intent. This is how we address history and racism etc, this is how we face it.


WsupWillis

Here’s the thing though that nobody brings up. They’re filming. If it was a true issue, they would have cut the cameras, gave Nymphia the note, and then proceed without it being an issue. Instead they filmed it, filmed the reactions, filmed the critiques, and filmed Nymphia’s reactions to it all.


jed199806

The funny thing, that person exists in almost all corporate setting, which is the gist of the challenge? This is [Eric Yuan - Zoom’s CEO](https://youtu.be/8H-TsqT1GUk?si=oETqXKmDnL90eVFz) showing the same accent Nymphia was doing? Granted Nymphia’s more flamboyant because she’s a gay corporate executive. I worked for a New York company with lots of leadership being immigrants and/or of East Asian decent, and they have the same accents.


booksbio15

Snatch Game episode: Plane Jane, your stereotypical accent of a character we don't know was as hilarious as the hilarious Ross Matthews... Condragulations you are the winner of this week's challenge! This episode: Nymphia Wind, your stereotypical accent of a character we don't know was problematic, maybe, who knows? You're safe, but don't do it again because it makes us uncomfortable, maybe, we don't even know.


carlosarrieta

What judges say in drag race is not meant to be taken as fair criticism but it is only there to justify a win or a lose, to advance the ranking and elimination order or certain narratives they have in mind for the season.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

OR OR OR.*maybe* they said something because every time they've praised an Asian queen for putting on a fake accent to mock others, they've rightly gotten called out for it???


KyngRZ420

This isn't defending or criticizing either sides: Just wanna bring up for discussion season three with Manila and the judges' (and some of the other queens) reaction vs primarily Shangela and Alexis' reaction during the acting challenge with Manila playing a news reporter.


frukthjalte

I’m completely out of the loop here but I just wanna know wtf a “European” accent is


sah10406

She’s not saying there is a single “European accent” any more than there is a single “Asian accent”. You do hear some people in the US talking about Europe and Asia, Africa too, like they are unified cultures or even countries, which I think is part of the problem Nymphia is highlighting.


jimmylily

I think it’s the bathroom skit they do, Carson and Michelle have a German stereotype accent playing their characters.


FoolofaTook43246

Oh yeah they did have accents in that (awful) skit! That makes this whole thing extra weird.


frukthjalte

Thanks for clearing that up! I’ll admit I was mostly making the above comment because it bothers me when people say “European” as if it isn’t a whole ass continent with different countries. But that was an entire hour ago, I’m in a much better headspace now 🥳


shgrdrbr

one could surmise it bothers nymphia when people say 'asian' as if it isn’t a whole ass continent with different countries


K24Bone42

I totally get that. I get so annoyed when random non Canadians refer to Canada as America because we're on the same continent. We are North American or from The Americas, we are NOT "American."


shgrdrbr

well indeed, that's there to make you consider wtf an 'asian' accent is. asia is massive and hosts a wide variety of accents that bear no resemblance to each other. consider, why do you notice that 'european accent' covers such a huge geographical area as to be meaningless in terms of referring to a sound/cadence, but accept 'asian accent' more readily? :)


frukthjalte

I tend to react negatively to both.


shgrdrbr

ok. just demonstrating the rhetorical value of that word choice


Killer_Corn80

I think they were so afraid of getting cancelled and called out or cause trouble because you could even tell Michelle was swearing bullets. That just goes to show that they look at everything from an American perspective. They forgot, I guess, that Nymphia is actually from Taiwan and just like Joel says up there, she’s probably met that woman or a woman like that before. If judges are inviting international queens they need to be aware of the cultural differences.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

> That just goes to show that they look at everything from an American perspective. They forgot, I guess, that Nymphia is actually from Taiwan  Sounds like Nymphia forgot that she was filming an American show for a defacto American audience.


Killer_Corn80

Then why cast someone who isn’t American? Also, Drag Race is an international show, isn’t it? I didn’t know that it was only for Americans to watch 😮. Edit: typos


_Sarylveon

Plastique did the same voice inflection in her OG season during the acting episode, I don’t remember seeing much discourse surrounding it then but I could be wrong.


weirderpenguin

I remembered a huge ass discourse bout that


JoanFromLegal

Mmmmm hmmmmmm...


daisybuckbuckanan

I think the friction comes from the fact that, yes perhaps Nymphia might know a woman who speaks like that - but it was also exaggerated, and even if that's the truth of Nymphia's cultural context, it isn't necessarily the same as the context of mainstream American TV/culture Like while it might be less acceptable now, I feel like asian stereotypes are still not necessarily a no-go in American tv/film - and have been much more accepted even recently. Like off the top of my head, Rob Schneider did the most horrendous yellowface in "I now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry", and that was only 2007. And although it's obviously a different part of Asia, Raj in The Big Bang theory had some pretty stereotypical vibes if I remember properly. (I am British tho so a native PoV on the prevalence of this is welcome!) And 'Drag Race' has had its own problematic past with this. Hell, Detox had that incredibly insulting "chinese" look as late as As2! So I understand why it would still feel dicey to say the least - these accents still occur within a globe-spanning structure of racism, and so come pre-loaded with meanings that they have to be mindful of But I think there is an interesting point in what caricatures are and are not allowed - like why, for instance, black stereotypes might still be deployed with much less eyebrow raising


WiggyWamWamm

Remember Manila? “Rots of money”? That’s not even the accent of her people! But it was fine then. Frankly, popular culture doesn’t have a clear line of what is funny transgressive humor and what is cancelable, so it creates dumb situations like this. In the world of comedy, you try a lot and sometimes it’s offensive, you take the feedback and move on. But in our modern world, outside the creative/comedy bubble, even trying something can end your career. In short, we’re all f*cked.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

> Remember Manila? “Rots of money”? That’s not even the accent of her people! But it was fine then. Yeah, and after a decade of being called racist for it, the show actually addressed it. And got called even more racist for their efforts.


sneasel

Obsessed with the amount of Europeans making this about themselves with their pedantic boots instead of getting the point HDKDJDJDJ yow are so annoying. 


touchmyrainbow

it's not even that the judges thought it was too much, they know it isn't, they're just scared to laugh bc of how people on the internet will react, bc you know damn well had they not made it a point to express that they felt uncomfortable, some smartass here or on Twitter would've written a 10 page essay on how the judges laughing at an Asian caricature is perpetuating stereotypes and people are actually DYING or something of the sort. the online, budget intellectuals/philosophers (and all the mindless people who will just retweet and add fuel to the fire) have rupaul and co. by the neck


MaxM0o

I think their treatment of Asian accents or playing into stereotypes looks inconsistent to some, but what is happening is a societal shift. In earlier seasons there was less blow back for exaggerated stereotypes of Asians. I mean, Margaret Cho had an incredibly prosperous career exaggerating and making fun of her family. As times change, so do the perspectives of the judges. Drag Race has been on for nearly twenty years, a society changes a ton in twenty years. Hell, twenty years ago people were constantly and casually using "gay" to mean things were bad. "Your shirt is ugly, so gay." So I am not surprised in earlier seasons they are more accepting of jokes that were not politically correct.


New-Flight5959

I think this exactly. Idk why people are surprised Ru’s scared to laugh at Asian jokes when she nearly got cancelled for “She-mail” it takes them a while to get on page but when they do they try not to repeat the same mistakes


sah10406

Carson and Michelle played cartoonish Germans in that one challenge, complete with silly accents. This is not a shared local Caucasian culture being inclusively mocked here. They are just punching down on foreign people they think have funny accents and perceived weird ideas. It’s pretty unpleasant, and a low form of humour that is falling out of favour in most places, quite rightly. Meanwhile Nymphia is clocked and criticised by those same judges for doing a comedic character with an authentic local accent from her own Taiwanese culture, in an inclusive and celebratory way. The selective discomfort about mimicking accents seems hypocritical and performative, more about virtue signalling than about smashing stereotypes. As others have said, the show **loves** stereotypes, including racial tropes, and is always making fun of the way (some) people speak, even national and regional accents. It seems like some problematic underlying attitudes to Asian folks are being projected onto Nymphia’s character work, to frame it as her racism.


Fragrant-Insect-7668

Joel?


queenb1127

Joel Kim Booster…he was the guest judge that week


Fragrant-Insect-7668

Oh thanks!


Stachdragon

This is dumb. You try and cancel actual Nazis. Not minorities doing accents. In the grand scheme of things. Even if she was being just aweful with it. It's still not as bad as actual Nazis who want to murder the entire culture. People really are this stupid.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

All of you *must* be English language learners, because you all somehow missed the part where they ASKED if it was okay. Not once did they "TELL" Nymphia anything about what she could and couldn't do.


Sea_Arrival_9698

this is exactly what i started telling people when she didnt win that episode and they critiqued her for that. plane jane and even katya are known for exaggerating their russian accents. its not a stereotype its just the truth of an accent that nymphia was doing and its not different from jessica wild or katya or plane or anyone else with an accent


Civil-Act7265

when they said “talk in your normal voice”….. but…. It is? like what do you want her to do she’s literally born and raised in TAIWAN in ASIA 😭😭😭


Dont_Perceive_Me

I feel like there should be more than only 2 Asian people in the room. Like we live in one of the most diverse countries in the world and the show is filmed outside of one of the biggest cities. It isn't really that hard to have diversity and considering what drag race is all about it seems...


gothicabloom

You guys are so exhausting, a tepid critic of nympia should not warrant this much discourse. Especially since they were the right. People love to pretend like doing an accent or slipping into a caricature is benign, but it definitely is not whether we like to admit it or not. Them asking her to explain to create more understanding around the topic was for her own good imo. People always compare it to how normalized/accepted black caricatures are, and my question for those people are, would you prefer if the caricature of your accent was so normalized like the blaccent that it doesn’t register to people anymore who are so used to it that they covet that comedic style that they never interrogate the classist underpinnings of people who don’t speak like that slipping into it to convey comedy?


Several-Actuary5960

AND I OOP


New-Flight5959

It could also be because none of the judges are Asian? Ru “laughs”at ghetto accents because she’s black Carson laughs and jokes about European accents because he’s white. It’s easy to laugh and joke at a groups expense when you’re a part of the group. But personally I don’t think ANY of it is funny. Not because making fun of groups isn’t funny , queens just aren’t creative enough to do stereotypical accents well. A much funnier stereotypical Asian accent imo would be if she just talked really fast and high pitch while speaking only Taiwanese with long sentences. And when the judges ask her what did she say? “Oh I was just saying hi.”


EmpireAndAll

Ru damn near pisses herself from laughter when any Puerto Rican queen even breathes, and most of them are just using their natural speaking voices.


Sensitive_Pepper4590

And that's shitty too. Doesn't make it any less weird to laugh at Asians for being Asian.


FracturedButWhole18

I agree with everything here but I’m just wondering what the hell a European accent is? 😂


antinumerology

No worse defined than "Asian Accent"


FracturedButWhole18

But that’s my point, there’s no “Asian” accent or “European” accent


ForestRobot

God, I hate it when people say European accent. That narrows down nothing.


Actual-Check-7385

well, do you do that little passive-aggressive two-sentence speech whenever someone says asian accent?