Late-night host and comedian Jay Leno apologized for every joke he has made about Asians throughout his career. He said that this isn’t an example of “cancel culture” but rather because “in my heart, I knew it was wrong.”
“At the time I did those jokes, I genuinely thought them to be harmless,” Leno said during a Zoom call with Guy Aoki, leader of the activist group Media Action Network for Asian Americans.
He added, “I was making fun of our enemy North Korea, and like most jokes, there was a ring of truth to them.”
“At the time, there was a prevailing attitude that some group is always complaining about something, so don’t worry about it. Whenever we received a complaint, there would be two sides to the discussion: Either ‘We need to deal with this’ or ‘Screw ’em if they can’t take a joke,’” Leno continued. “Too many times I sided with the latter, even when in my heart, I knew it was wrong.”
https://youtu.be/i9IF9LgRK-s
“I am issuing this apology. I do not consider this particular case to be another example of cancel culture, but a legitimate wrong that was done on my part,” he said. “MANAA has been very gracious in accepting my apology. I hope that the Asian American community will be able to accept it as well, and I hope I can live up to their expectations in the future.”
Just a quick glance at Twitter shows that many people are not accepting his apology. He should have expected that sort of of response though. This is 2021 after all.
