Just as our SBS broadcasting went through the turmoil of re-editing after being hit by public opinion after deleting ‘women’ in actor Yang Zichong’s (Yang Zi-kyung, Michelle Yeo) acceptance speech for the Best Actress Oscar, NPR, an American public radio station, also suffered a ‘similar but different’ measles. paid
NPR, a Malaysian woman, announced on Twitter that she was the first Asian actress to win the Best Actress Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on the 12th (local time), the American media Next Shark reported the next day.
However, unlike other media, ‘the first Asian actress’ was posted as ‘the first person who identifies as Asian’. She rightly caught the attention of film fans. When it was retweeted and quickly became a hot topic with 5.5 million views, Twitter posted a community note offering tips on information that could be distorted.
“The facts in this tweet are correct, but no context has been provided to properly explain it. Merle Oberon (1911–1979) was the first Asian woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1935 performance in ‘Dark Angel’. Oberon hides her bloodline so as not to be discriminated against, but Michelle Yeo openly says that she is of Asian blood.”
In fact, when she was nominated for the Best Leisure Actress Award in January, several media outlets, including Next Shark and The Hollywood Reporter, made similar classifications and wrote articles.
Twitter later removed the community note and put a short link to YouTube explaining why the outlets were making this distinction. However, this short video also points out that NPR did not provide enough context for Oberon’s nomination.
Despite this explanation, many Twitter netizens pressed for an update to get rid of that distinction and why they express it this way. As a result, in the updated tweet, only “Asian woman” was marked.
One Twitter user wrote: “Please don’t litter the news of her Oscar win with these stupid things.” Another said, “Lol…she is Asian. Lord NPR consistently shows valueless liberal nonsense.”
Right-wing political commentator Ian Miles Cheung said, “The community notes on this matter are ridiculous. Even if Yeo doesn’t open up about her Asian ancestry, she still won’t be confused as a black woman.”
Take a look at the table above at this point. Jo Bryan’s blog run by Wealthy Movies ( Asian actresses pointed out that seven Asian actresses were nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress nine times, and Vivien Leigh, Cher, Natalie Portman, and Yang Zichong all four won five awards.
In conclusion, Yang Zichong’s award should not be written as ‘the first Asian actress’, but should be written as ‘the first Asian actress’.
On the other hand, the most eye-catching part of Yang Zichong’s acceptance speech was the following. “To all the little boys and girls who look like me and watch tonight (the awards ceremony), this is a signal of hope and possibility. And women, if someone tells you that your golden years are past, never believe them.”
However, SBS silenced the pronunciation of ‘And ladies’ and deleted it from the subtitles, and broadcast it on the 8 o’clock news. After that, when it became controversial, the video was deleted from YouTube and a new clip was uploaded with the subtitle ‘Women’.
SBS explained, “We had no intention of distorting it with our intentions.” “We modified all of the digital content because there is a connotation of the word ‘And ladies’.”
Senior Reporter Lim Byung-seon
