Gracie Gold Apologizes for Racially Insensitive Tweet
- Thread starter Sasha'sSpins
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Are you dim, or are you young?
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You might be right. But, see, that's where the issue of social media comes in. It would have been one thing if Gracie had joked like this privately to Mao alone, or even if she had said something like this on Japanese television. But she put it out there for the world to see. That tweet wasn't for Mao's eyes alone, it was also for her many followers, most of whom (I'm assuming) happen to be American.
The thing with inside jokes is that that stops becoming a viable defense when you say said jokes on a public platform. That invites scrutiny. You don't want the public to comment on your "joke", then you don't make the joke public. You take it to email or in a private tweet. Now, I think Gracie's young and she's grown up in the age of social media, so she hasn't yet learned how to do this yet. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, so many kids these days think nothing of splashing their every thought on places like twitter and facebook. The boundaries between private and public behavior are slowly eroding.
For the record, I don't think Gracie meant the tweet maliciously, and I don't think she needs to burn in the fiery pits of hell or anything, lol. But she definitely messed up here.
It looks like she also has a fair number of Japanese fans who also follow her and for the most paper were pretty gracious about the mistake when she apologized.
That said, I agree with the rest of what you said. It is amazing that despite being "native" to the technology, that they probably don't realize the power social media can have to make or break you.
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No, I mean before they even filmed anything and were telling her what she would be saying and doing.
Are you angry, or have you never worked in entertainment?
But that's exactly what happens when ANYONE tries to learn a new language. Even people who have been around a certain language since birth can end up having their own vocal quirks that can be endearingly made fun of.
It seems like you're blindly defending something which requires no defense, just because it's Mao. If Javier Fernandez had been the subject here and Gracie had posted some kind of riff on one of his cute dialect quirks, I wonder how many people would be viewing it in the same negative light.
1). I agree w/Mrs. P's on how social media invites scrutiny. One, it is speculation, no matter how seemingly well-founded, that this is an inside joke. Two, even if it was an inside joke w/either Gracie's Japanese fans, w/Mao, or both, the fact that she posted it on a social platform available to both Japanese and American fans does invite scrutiny. It's kind of like having a loudly spoken conversation in a public place, and then spinning around and accusing the bystanders of eavesdropping. Well sorry, but by utilizing a public forum-- Twitter-- you've also invited the public's scrutiny and criticism.
2). Personally, I do find this a bit offensive. I'm not saying I haven't poked fun at accents before, but there's a big difference imo, joking among friends who understand it as such and doing so on a public forum everyone can view. With my friends, there's an understanding and context; neither exist in the latter case.
3). I'm sorry but the "she's young!" comment honestly irks me. She's not a child, she's 18 already. I'm right around her age and while I won't claim that everything I've said has been perfectly appropriate, I've also never posted said sayings to a social platform. Also, I'm not a quasi-public figure like Gracie is. You don't need to be an intellectual or rocket scientist to possess a filter and some common sense.
2). Personally, I do find this a bit offensive. I'm not saying I haven't poked fun at accents before, but there's a big difference imo, joking among friends who understand it as such and doing so on a public forum everyone can view. With my friends, there's an understanding and context; neither exist in the latter case.
3). I'm sorry but the "she's young!" comment honestly irks me. She's not a child, she's 18 already. I'm right around her age and while I won't claim that everything I've said has been perfectly appropriate, I've also never posted said sayings to a social platform. Also, I'm not a quasi-public figure like Gracie is. You don't need to be an intellectual or rocket scientist to possess a filter and some common sense.
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Why are you thumbing down hurrah for expressing her opinion? Nobody thumbed down your comment--everyone seemed understanding, in my opinion.
For the most part. I do agree with all the points in your post, especially #1.
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I actually would argue it's partly because they are native to the technology. I think anyone in, say, the mid 20's and above age group right now can at least remember a time when it wasn't like this and they were 'adult-ish'. Partly because it is 'new' to us on some level we've had to think about it and examine it and its implications (or maybe, most of the people I happen to talk to/interact with online and off have chosen to do so). I do not think most people to who it is 'native' have the inclination for such exploration, but I don't think this is their fault. Being as this is all they have known, it's sort of silly to expect that they'd examine it the same way many 23 or 24+ year olds have chosen to and in some cases have needed to. To the teens especially and also to the young 20 something's, it is just there, and has been for either all or most of their lives that they remember/reflect on.
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- Feb 5, 2012
I wonder if this means no medals for Gracie at upcoming Olympics/Worlds... PC is killing this country. As the daughter of immigrants with friends from all over the world, it seems to me that her tweet was really stupid not offensive... She was being an awkward dork - no need to crucify her.
I don't think tweetgate will have any bearing on her ability to medal at Sochi/Japan. This story seemed to have barely, if at all, registered in Japan, and Russia will not care about some teen's foreign mishap (and the hoopla generated in non-Russian media).
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- Feb 27, 2012
If Gold qualifies for Sochi:
The one lucky break for her regarding the original tweet is that she made her big mistake now -- as opposed to during the Olympics, when it could have caused much more embarrassment for herself, for U.S. Figure Skating, for the USOC, for her sponsors, etc.
I am glad that she tweeted an apology, and I hope it means that she will never make this kind of mistake again.
The behind-the-scenes montage published in Aug by the ShibSibs (as a separate offering from the One More Sandwich video itself) showed three takes of Asada's line -- and gave NO reason to believe that the second and third takes had anything to do with modifying her pronunciation.
Blades, you say that you are not referring to the behind-the-scenes video.
But how can you claim to know what happened in any off-camera rehearsals for the video? I find it hard to believe that you know what you are talking about. Were you there in person? How so?
As I said earlier in this thread:
The one lucky break for her regarding the original tweet is that she made her big mistake now -- as opposed to during the Olympics, when it could have caused much more embarrassment for herself, for U.S. Figure Skating, for the USOC, for her sponsors, etc.
I am glad that she tweeted an apology, and I hope it means that she will never make this kind of mistake again.
The behind-the-scenes montage published in Aug by the ShibSibs (as a separate offering from the One More Sandwich video itself) showed three takes of Asada's line -- and gave NO reason to believe that the second and third takes had anything to do with modifying her pronunciation.
Blades, you say that you are not referring to the behind-the-scenes video.
But how can you claim to know what happened in any off-camera rehearsals for the video? I find it hard to believe that you know what you are talking about. Were you there in person? How so?
As I said earlier in this thread:
- The inside joke of the video had NOTHING to do with Asada's pronunciation.
- And Gold's original tweet made NO pretense of being a personal/private message meant only for Asada.
Gold did not tweet "@" Asada. Gold used the hashtags #mao #asada -- indicating Gold's clear intention for the tweet to be seen by the public at large.
Gold has over 11,000 followers to whom she routinely tweets all kinds of self-promotional messages for as many eyeballs as possible. And the fact that she blocked those who complained about the original tweet is additional evidence that Gold is thoroughly familiar with how Twitter works.
- And Gold's original tweet made NO pretense of being a personal/private message meant only for Asada.
Gold did not tweet "@" Asada. Gold used the hashtags #mao #asada -- indicating Gold's clear intention for the tweet to be seen by the public at large.
Gold has over 11,000 followers to whom she routinely tweets all kinds of self-promotional messages for as many eyeballs as possible. And the fact that she blocked those who complained about the original tweet is additional evidence that Gold is thoroughly familiar with how Twitter works.
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- Nov 12, 2013
I idly wonder (and doubt) if there would be a debate of these proportions if the accent tweet was about a skater of the same race as Gracie. Say, if she mimicked the pronunciation of a Russian skater. So far, I have the impresion that things turn ugly only if there's race involved, which doesn't make much sense to me.
If one was to analyze every single word one posts online to delete any possible slurs others might see there, it would be rather quiet on the internet.
I wonder if the same people that have issues with Gracie for mocking a pronunciation that's (stereo)typical for the Japanese, are also offended at, say, J.K.Rowling for doing the same thing in her HP books, targeting East-European and French speakers, accompanied by behaviour stereotypes and with impressionable children as target audience? Somehow, I doubt that. And wonder if that is because race is not involved. Do jokes about females, blondes, other races etc. embody the same type of offence?
All the best to Gracie, she's apologized for a tweet that I don't believe was posted to mock, and I hope she moves on without making too much of all the negative feedback she got.
If one was to analyze every single word one posts online to delete any possible slurs others might see there, it would be rather quiet on the internet.
I wonder if the same people that have issues with Gracie for mocking a pronunciation that's (stereo)typical for the Japanese, are also offended at, say, J.K.Rowling for doing the same thing in her HP books, targeting East-European and French speakers, accompanied by behaviour stereotypes and with impressionable children as target audience? Somehow, I doubt that. And wonder if that is because race is not involved. Do jokes about females, blondes, other races etc. embody the same type of offence?All the best to Gracie, she's apologized for a tweet that I don't believe was posted to mock, and I hope she moves on without making too much of all the negative feedback she got.
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- Nov 12, 2013
I agree. But look at the title of this thread - apparently there are people who believe it was.
What has race to do with English pronunciation?
Nothing. But it seems to me it has something to do with the number of negative reactions that Gracie got, and I wondered if she would get as many had she made fun of the pronunciation of a foreign skater who is white.
Her comment wasn't racist. What has race to do with English pronunciation?
In the OJ Simpson trial, someone was judged "racist" because he said a man, whom he could not see, sounded "black".
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I wasn't surprised her tweet, perhaps it's because I knew her "Asian face!!" photo with Lexis Verhulst on Instagram...
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This is what is wrong with a country that is run by lawyers. Seriously?! I suppose Vanilla Ice sound white?! Come on...
All these digital bites <pun intended> over a sandwich.... what I really want to know is who ate it, and I hope it taste dewicious?
Asada was shown eating the sandwich. She seemed to find it delicious or at least edible. The story has already reached NBC sports news. However one feels about this personally, evidently many see it in a negative light and are not likely to change their opinions. Hopefully, it won't affect judgment of her skating, but who knows. Wonder if Frank will advise her to stay away from social media for awhile?
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- Feb 27, 2012
Wrong.
Narumi Takahashi was shown eating the last sandwich (i.e., the "title" sandwich of the video: "One More Sandwich"). In the behind-the-scenes vid, director Alex Shibutani can be heard coaching Takahashi to ham up her enjoyment as if it were the most delicious sandwich that she had ever eaten.
At the beginning of the One More Sandwich vid, Asada was shown taking the penultimate sandwich from the tray -- but she did not eat it on camera.
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