Shaq: "ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh"

[P-Chan]

Here's an intersting story about Shaq and Yao Ming.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2003/01/10/shaq_yao_ap/

Here's a sample....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal said he was joking, not being a racist, when he used a mock Chinese accent while talking about Houston center Yao Ming.

A columnist for AsianWeek complained in his newspaper that O'Neal made several derogatory comments recently about Yao, with the Lakers' center saying, "Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh."'

"I said it jokingly, so this guy was just trying to stir something up that's not there. He's just somebody who doesn't have a sense of humor, like I do. I don't have to have a response to that (the charges of racism) because the people who know me know I'm not," O'Neal said Friday before Los Angeles' game against Cleveland.

"I mean, if I was the first one to do it, and the only one to do it, I could see what they're talking about. But if I offended anybody, I apologize."
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What are your opinions on this?

[whitedragon-my]

Offensive? Yes.
Bad Taste? Hell Yes.
Racist? That's the question.

In my opinion he was just being a jack-ass, but I really don't think it was intended to be racist.

[Mr-Y]

At 1/26/03 10:21 PM, P-Chan wrote: Here's an intersting story about Shaq and Yao Ming.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2003/01/10/shaq_yao_ap/

Here's a sample....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal said he was joking, not being a racist, when he used a mock Chinese accent while talking about Houston center Yao Ming.

A columnist for AsianWeek complained in his newspaper that O'Neal made several derogatory comments recently about Yao, with the Lakers' center saying, "Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh."'

"I said it jokingly, so this guy was just trying to stir something up that's not there. He's just somebody who doesn't have a sense of humor, like I do. I don't have to have a response to that (the charges of racism) because the people who know me know I'm not," O'Neal said Friday before Los Angeles' game against Cleveland.

"I mean, if I was the first one to do it, and the only one to do it, I could see what they're talking about. But if I offended anybody, I apologize."
--------------------------------------

What are your opinions on this?

I'm an Asian, and people do that all the time. Some just joke around, and I understand it. Some just do it out of pure racism and hate (another example of racism: people calling you a "Chink" to insult you). It really depends on how the guy tried to use it. O'Neal probably only tried to make a joke, I donno about that.

[Fantastico]

...
everything depends on tone

paki in the right tone is just an abbrievation, else it can be a racist derrogatory term

same with this.

[Freakapotimus]

Definitely bad taste. If he was only joking, then it should have been something said between Shaq and Yuo, not Shaq and the press!

[P-Chan]

I hate to sound like a prick, but it's really hard not to here.

Read again what Shaq says:

Shaq said: "I said it jokingly, so this guy was just trying to stir something up that's not there. He's just somebody who doesn't have a sense of humor, like I do."

So Shaq says that the guy doesn't have a sense of humour? Well... imagine what would happen if a white hockey player said something against Shaq or any other black person in a southern-slave-mush-mouth type voice. I guarentee you that that player would be banned from the sport. No doubt about that.

I think it's very very distastful for Shaq to say that, especially when he's a celebrity. And it shows you a nasty double standard that we have in our society. If Shaq was white, indian or hispanic he would have been in some serious shit. But he's black, so it's ok for him to say that.

But in any case, yeah, it probably was just a joke...

That's my 2 cents.

[Mr-Y]

At 1/27/03 10:17 PM, P-Chan wrote: Read again what Shaq says: (...)
I think it's very very distastful for Shaq to say that, especially when he's a celebrity. (...)
But in any case, yeah, it probably was just a joke...
That's my 2 cents.

Yeah, it's very likely that he was just joking. But the level until jokes go too far to get someone fired is different for everyone - it's kinda more strict for different races now, as it's been always. The good thing about racism is that if someone makes a racist joke against a black person, it's most likely to end his career if he started with the racism. The bad thing, is that it's not always the same when it's against a white, Asian, or another non-black person.

Well, I'm not saying fire O'neal - basketball needs him, and well, he probably learned from that experience. I would even still feel sorry for him if he gets fired from that small mistake. My friends do that, and even other Asians sometimes do it for fun. I've also seen it on Simpsons once on an old episode where Homer joins the navy. Am I saying ban Simpsons? (Well, even if I wanted to ban it cuz of that, it's a little too late, but if I got the chance to ban it, I would still say:) Hell no! I love the Simpsons! I donno about other Asians, but I can take a joke like that.

[Mr-Y]

Well, ever since Yao Ming has joined the NBA, he's been "the star from China", and everyone was amazed at him, because it's like a totally new thing that came to basketball. If your family was Asian, wouldn't you be amazed if a white, black, or other non-Asian was being adopted into your family? Same thing happened with Ming being "adopted" to the NBA, with O'Neal as a family member already.

About O'Neal, well, sure, he's very likely to have been just joking. I'm almost totally sure that he meant no racism. Again, you can't be 100% sure, but you can be 99%, because you can't find many reasons - no good reasons, for why he would truly mean hard racism with hate. Why would he do that? I don't think he's that stupid.

BTW, since I think that you are a Canadian from Ontario (I am), (I'm sure that it's probably all over North America at least, and maybe Asia, but...) did you get it off the Tornoto Star? National Post?

[Spike-J-Wolfwood]

I have a gripe about this topic since it has been brought up by all of my black friends. Most of them defend him 100% for a reason that really pisses me off. You know the one.....

Ohhhhhhh.......Shaq can’t be a racist, he’s black. *pause to let sarcasm sink in*. Look, if I were to start talking in old vaudeville style black-face talk and started saying bull crap like “ I loves me some watermelon” you know that people would call me a racist. However he gets an excuse, the logic being that he is just screwing around. Hell, he might of, but you know what? It was still a joke at the expense of another based on their race. It’s that simple. I don’t think that he’s a bad guy just for that, I mean everyone shoots their mouth off without thinking, or makes jokes that they don’t really mean just for the sake of a laugh. In this case however, he stupidly made the mistake of making a joke when it was not appropriate and in front of the press. Still a racist joke, but there may not have been total malice intended.

[Freakapotimus]

At 1/27/03 11:50 PM, Mr_Y wrote: Well, ever since Yao Ming has joined the NBA, he's been "the star from China", and everyone was amazed at him, because it's like a totally new thing that came to basketball.

I'm not a big basketball fan, I'm just amazed at how tall he is!

[P-Chan]

BTW, since I think that you are a Canadian from Ontario (I am), (I'm sure that it's probably all over North America at least, and maybe Asia, but...) did you get it off the Tornoto Star? National Post?

Well. I first heard about it from a friend and then I went online and found quite a few articles on it.

Yeah, news spreads pretty fast now a days....

Thank you internet!!!!

BTW, I wouldn't recommend reading the National Post. :P

[TheShrike]

He was joking (my opinion). He should know as a black american what it feels like to be discriminated against.

On the other hand, the double standard rule does apply here.
It's obviously not a huge-front-page-Trent-Lott-national-headline because of that, nevermind he was probably joking.

My question is what are Yao Ming's thoughts on this?

Well, he said exactly this:
"There are a lot of difficulties in two different cultures understanding each other. Especially two very large countries. The world is getting smaller and I think it's important to have a greater understanding of other cultures. I believe Shaquille O'Neal was joking but I think that a lot of Asian people don't understand that kind of joke [...] Chinese is hard to learn. I had trouble with it when I was little,"

Derogatory words and names are one thing. But making fun of a language is completely diffrent. My girlfriend is Thai, and trying to teach me a few phrases. I recently learnt that rice, white, and 'fishy smell' all sound like cow. I've spent numerous occasions saying "cow cow cow cow cow" in jest. I don't care if someone makes fun of the way English sounds. I don't care if a Brit does it, a Russian, or any Chinese.

If Shaq had pulled his fingers across the edges of his eyes while saying that, well- that's another story.

[P-Chan]

My question is what are Yao Ming's thoughts on this?

Well, he said exactly this:
"There are a lot of difficulties in two different cultures understanding each other. Especially two very large countries. The world is getting smaller and I think it's important to have a greater understanding of other cultures. I believe Shaquille O'Neal was joking but I think that a lot of Asian people don't understand that kind of joke [...] Chinese is hard to learn. I had trouble with it when I was little,"

He didn't say "exactly" that at all. These were the words that Yao's translator said for him. In other words these words might have been a filtered version of what Yao said.

Derogatory words and names are one thing. But making fun of a language is completely diffrent. My girlfriend is Thai, and trying to teach me a few phrases. I recently learnt that rice, white, and 'fishy smell' all sound like cow. I've spent numerous occasions saying "cow cow cow cow cow" in jest. I don't care if someone makes fun of the way English sounds. I don't care if a Brit does it, a Russian, or any Chinese.

I understand exactly what you mean!! So it IS ok to go up to blacks and talk in a southern-mush-mouth type voice. They won't find it offensive at all, because it is simply making fun of the language and not the person.

BTW, does anyone know what I mean when I refer to the mushmouth type accent?

[P-Chan]

At 1/28/03 11:19 PM, TheShrike wrote: He was joking (my opinion). He should know as a black american what it feels like to be discriminated against.

Yes, he was probably just joking. And yes, I'm sure he does know what it feels like to be discriminated against too.

On the other hand, the double standard rule does apply here.
It's obviously not a huge-front-page-Trent-Lott-national-headline because of that, nevermind he was probably joking.

You're skewing the issue of what the "double-standard" actually is. And that is....

Basically, if he was white, he couldn't get away with saying those comments. End. But he is black, so he can get away from saying those comments. End.

[MarshmallowClock]

I am almost positive Shaq was joking when he stated that.. But, joke or not, it was a jack-ass comment. I could care less if someone uses derogative terms against someone else; I am too cynical to care. But Shaq said it to the Press which means "big no-no".

Anything anyone says to the Press can be mangled into something else, which in turn becomes believable by almost everyone that reads it.

[MistahX]

That is fuckin racist.

[Mr-Y]

At 1/28/03 10:39 PM, P-Chan wrote: BTW, I wouldn't recommend reading the National Post. :P

LoL.. don't worry, I don't read the papers. I'm the type of person, along with many other people, who let others find the news, spread it around, and then hear it. The best I do to find the news is go on CNN for... what... 5 minutes (excluding very special events such as September 11th)? I've never heard about that tho on the news... only about Yao Ming being able to stop O'Neal a few times... and I'm not even sure if that's the exact truth.