Singapore — James Corden, the cuddly, well-beloved talk show host who made Carpool Karaoke famous, is being asked by an Asian-American TikToker to end one segment on “The Late Late Show.”
The segment in question is called “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts,” which is a spin on the old “truth or consequence” games.
In the segment, celebrity guests are asked a question. They have the option of replying candidly and reveal a part of their private lives, but if they don’t want to, they can instead eat something “exotic”.
The problem is, as one person has pointed out, many of the food offered on the segment is part of Asian cuisines.
For example, in the clip below, fellow talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel can avoid answering leading questions by eating choices that include chicken feet and century egg, which are part of Chinese food, and balut (fertilized duck egg), a Filipino delicacy.
“Wow, that all looks terrible,” Mr Kimmel says at one point, adding that “it doesn’t smell good.”
“It’s really disgusting,” Mr Corden replies, “it’s horrific.”
The clip has been viewed over 27 million times.
However, with the recent increase of violence against Asian Americans, Ms Kim Saira, who is of Chinese and Filipino descent, has asked for the segment to be discontinued.
She started a change.org petition, “Remove ‘Spill Your Guts’ Segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden,” earlier this month, which now has almost 40,000 signatures.
Ms Saira wrote, “In the wake of the constant Asian hate crimes that have continuously been occurring, not only is this segment incredibly culturally offensive and insensitive, but it also encourages anti-Asian racism.
So many Asian Americans are consistently bullied and mocked for their native foods, and this segment amplifies and encourages it.
We are holding James Corden and The Late Late Show accountable for their actions, and perpetual harm this segment causes to Asian American communities. At the very least, Asian American communities deserve an apology and this segment to be taken off the air.”
Ms Saira, who has almost 100,000 followers on Instagram, has since made a series of TikTok posts about the matter.
@kimssaira many of these foods have been around in asian cultures for thousands of years. sign the link in my bio to take this off the air #fyp #aapi
In her most recent post from six days ago, she wrote that she has yet to hear from Mr Corden or The Late, Late Show.
@kimssaira ya
She clarified, however, that she does not want to “cancel” James Corden, since, after all, “he used his platform to take down fat-shamers last year.”
Ms Saira’s point is that the talk show host has shown he can stand up for “oppressed communities.”
“If he can do this, he is capable of making things right with his spill his guts segment (which mocks foods that are used and rooted in Asian cultures,” she added
Many people have supported Ms Saira’s petition, chiming in that Asian foods have long been perceived by Westerners as “smelly” or disgusting.
One commenter wrote, “It’s about time America and western countries stopped judging everything by their own standard and taking no one else seriously!!!!”
But the TikToker has also gotten pushback from other netizens, who’ve told her she just needs to get over it.
/TISG
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