When you run out of things to be offended by, YouTube’s bottomless archive of videos is a treasure trove of “problematic” content. With social media, it’s never been easier to share your offense—manufacturing outrage out of content long-forgotten.
To that end, members of the Asian-American podcast and blog called Thick Dumpling Skin recently highlighted an exchange on a five-year-old episode of The Pioneer Woman that offended them.
In Episode 3 of the show’s second season, host Ree Drummond served Asian hot wings to the dismay of her crew and episode guests. Pulling out a batch of “Asian hot wings” from the oven, members of her family and film crew asked dejectedly where the “real wings” (meaning Buffalo wings) were.
Like Thick Dumpling Skin, food website Eater was quick to highlight the objectionable content:
One member of her crew asks “Where are the real wings?” Another dude says, “I don’t trust ‘em.” Drummond laughs and says, “I’m just kidding guys, I wouldn’t do that to you.” Then she pulls a tray of good ole American Buffalo wings out of the oven, much to the delight of her boys, one of whom says, “Now those are some wings.” [emphasis is Eater’s]
The podcast tweeted out their objection to the clip, stating: “anti-Asian sentiment being promoted on @thepioneerwoman’s show really isn’t cool.”
A longer post on the show’s website asked: “Why must we watch non-Asian cooks who can’t pronounce “Sriracha” and don’t have a chopstick drawer show us how to make our own dishes? And how come, when they do, we have to watch as their entire family mocks it—like in this episode of The Pioneer Woman?”
They highlighted the lack of Asian hosts on the Food Network, discounting Iron Chef.
The podcast’s remarks were echoed by equally outraged progressives who “literally can’t even” handle the mild jokes on the show, and declared the clip to be both “ignorant” and “insensitive.” Responders also pointed out how it was evidence that food could indeed be racist.
Eater is now demanding that the Food Network take down the episode that barely anyone paid notice to until it was excavated for virtue signaling. “A smart and respectful move would be for the Food Network to take this five-year-old episode out of rotation,” they wrote.
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at @stillgray on Twitter and on Facebook.
