APA Community's View on Rosie O'Donnell: Not Good Enough
Yes, Rosie O'Donnell apologized for her use of a racial slur on "The View," but was it good enough?
"I'm sorry for those people who felt hurt or were teased on the playground," O'Donnell said on the Dec. 14 show. "'Ching chong' unbeknownst to me was a very offensive word or way to make fun of or mock a Japanese accent ..."
The other hosts quickly corrected O'Donnell by saying Asian accent.
So the Dec. 5 "ching chong" incident seen and heard across the world was supposed to come to an end. Except Asian Pacific American groups, including the JACL, that voiced outrage immediately after the incident, are sending a clear message: the apology is still not good enough.
In a statement on their Web site Unity: Journalists of Color, an association with a mission to advocate fair and accurate news coverage about people of color, called for the show's producer Barbara Walters to "publicly acknowledge that O'Donnell's remarks were patently offensive."
"It's very offensive and some Asian people have told me it's as bad as the 'n' word, which I was like really? I didn't know that," said O'Donnell on the show. "To anyone that felt offended by my Chinese-Asian-pseudo-Japanese-sounded-Yiddish accent that I was doing -- and was never intended to mock -- I apologize."
O'Donnell, a co-host of "The View," was still cracking jokes during her on-air apology about the criticism that erupted after she impersonated a Chinese newscaster reporting on Danny Devito's alleged drunken behavior on the ABC show.
"I do accents of everyone," she said. She may do it again, she added.
The anti-Asian slur that rolled out of O'Donnell's mouth and into the living rooms of American television viewers across the nation even sent Michelle Malkin into a defensive mode. The right wing journalist and author, infamous for supporting the wartime internment of Japanese Americans, blasted O'Donnell's use of "ching chong" on Hotair.com, a conservative Internet broadcast network.
Malkin accused O'Donnell of "bigot speak" and pointed out the irony of another "ching chong" incident in 1995 when Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato mocked Judge Lance Ito's non-existent accent and was subsequently forced to apologize on the Senate floor.
Spoofing a language belittles the people who speak it, critics say. In the aftermath of Michael Richard's racist tirade, which was also caught on tape, what standard is in place for entertainers who slur?
"The 'ching chong' bit is not a trivial matter," New York Council Member John Liu told FOXNews.com. "It really hits a raw nerve for many people in the community - many like myself, who grew up with these kinds of taunts. We all know that it never ends at the taunts."
In November, O'Donnell, a champion of human and gay rights, accused Kelly Ripa, co-host of "Live With Regis and Kelly," of homophobia for pushing Clay Aiken's hand away from her mouth on the program.
Critics say it's O'Donnell who pulled the politically correct card first and now she, and the show's producers, must face the music.
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