On Sunday, March 2, I was enjoying a glass of champagne and popcorn while watching the 2025 Oscars show with my family. Conan O’Brien began with a polite greeting in fluent Spanish, followed by something in Hindi… and then proceeded to speak gibberish Chinese.
As an immigrant from Hong Kong, China, I was completely shocked and offended by this insensitive linguistic stunt, which is both disrespectful and insulting to the Asian diaspora. How many more times will I have to hear white people or non-speakers mock Asian languages?
If Chris Rock’s 2016 “Asian accountants” joke sparked outrage, then I find this clichéd and unfunny joke of gibberish Chinese deeply insulting to my language and culture as a Chinese immigrant.
While last night’s Oscars was considered a triumph of independent filmmaking, as an AAPI independent filmmaker having worked in Los Angeles for over three decades, I find this general lack of respect and sensitivity on Asian cultures to be endemic of not only the Oscars and Hollywood but America as a whole.
I guess all the efforts to combat Anti-Asian hate in the early 2020s have led to little cultural change when, in 2025, a Harvard graduate can casually step onto a primetime stage and spew unfunny, gibberish Chinese on national television.
So funny? Well, #OscarsSoRacist = #Chibberish
