TV

The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng Blasts Fox News For Its Insanely Racist Chinatown Segment

"Everyone's been wondering who'd be the target of 2016's worst racism. I didn't even know Asians were in the running."

by Tom Clift  8 October 2016

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Cementing himself as one of the very best things about the Trevor Noah era of The Daily Show, Melbourne comedian Ronny Chieng has delivered a furious takedown of conservative news network Fox News, over an astoundingly racist segment about Asian Americans.

Talking Trump, ‘The Daily Show’ And A Big Return To Melbourne Uni With Comedian Ronny Chieng

The segment in question aired on The O’Reilly Factor earlier this week, and featured reporter Jesse Watters interviewing people in Manhattan’s Chinatown about the upcoming presidential election. Oh wait, hang on, did I say interviewing? I meant peddling cringeworthy racist stereotypes and making fun of the elderly for not being able to speak English.

“Am I supposed to bow to say hello?” asked the grown man on the streets of New York in 2016.

You can watch the entire Fox segment below. Sidenote: when a news report begins with the riff from ‘Kung Fu Fighting’, you just know you’re in for a masterclass in cultural sensitivity.

“Okay, first of all, let me get this straight,” began an incredulous Chieng in his Daily Show response. “They say China in the debate, so you go to Chinatown in New York? So when they mention Mexico, do you send someone to Taco Bell?”

“That’s like if they brought up women’s rights so I sent someone to Fox News to get some opinions.”

Describing Watters as an “asshole”, a “douchebag” and an “ignorant sack of shit” who looks like he “carries around a pack of roofies just in case”, Chieng goes on to slam the piece for its appallingly racist depiction of Asian people, quipping that in the lead-up to the election, “everyone’s been wondering who’d be the target of 2016’s worst racism. I didn’t even know Asians were in the running!”

“If you want to come at Chinese people, make fun of China’s high pollution or the fact that they censor most of the internet,” he continued. “Which in this case may actually be a good thing, since no person in China will ever have to watch your garbage attempt at comedy.”