Editor’s note. We got some backlash about our RiceGum article, so I thought I’d publish a counter-argument.
Recently, I read the Amped Asia article about RiceGum. It said that RiceGum is “no Bruce Lee, but he is moving things in the right direction for Asian guys.”
I respectfully disagree.
RiceGum is an immature child who exhibits many of the behaviors of internalized racism. To even mention him in the same sentence as Bruce Lee is an absolute insult to one of our biggest heroes.
Plan A Mag had a great discussion about internalized racism. In their podcast they said that when Asian females have this sense of internal racism, they start hating on Asian men to make themselves look better (see Esther Ku). Asian men, on the other hand, tend to hate or make fun of other Asian men in order to make themselves feel cool (see Ken Jeong and also RiceGum).
RiceGum is just another Asian guy who thinks that insulting people of his own race makes him somehow cooler than other Asian dudes.
If you watch the video above, you’ll see several examples of this kind of behavior.
When you go to Asia and start recording yourself asking local people where can you “find dogs to eat” and “where are the hoes at” — it’s just absolutely disrespectful. It shows a complete lack of self-awareness and just basic human decency.
The bigger issue is that YouTubers like RiceGum and even worse, Logan Paul, are children who have no idea how their actions may be negatively affecting other people. They are willing to go to any lengths to get views, even when their videos are just blatantly racist. Logan Paul’s Japanese forest video was appalling (since taken down), and the fact that he even uploaded it shows that Paul is living in such a privileged state that he doesn’t realize the negative ramifications of what he’s doing.
And while RiceGum isn’t a Logan Paul, his actions are just as damning, and even more-so because he should be a role model for other Asian men.
One of the issues is that there’s still people supporting this bad behavior. RiceGum literally has millions of fans, and he’s gonna stay rich and making money even though he’s going through life getting rewarded for these pranks which show his lack of common decency.
RiceGum got famous for freakin diss tracks! I mean seriously? This guy is known for insulting other people, and he has millions of young fans following this shit?
RiceGum is NOT your role model. He’s just a bully towards other Asians and needs to be stopped.
Remember, you don’t need to put down anyone to be a strong Asian male.
Editor’s note – I’m a bit torn on the topic. On one hand I understand that comedy is supposed to be comedy, and RiceGum is a comedian in the end. I also believe there’s a tinge of the super politically correct SJWs trying hard to put a comedian in his place. If you think about it — White people make fun of other white people all the time. On the other hand I do agree that some of his behaviors are problematic. I also feel that a lot of this comes from immaturity and not an intention to be harmful. In this instance, I think the RiceGum in Hong Kong video came off in very poor taste although it didn’t come from a place of intentionally wanting to hurt or denigrate other Asians. One of the issues with guys like him is that he is still fairly ignorant. Okay fine, he’s just dumb. At the end of the day, he’s a flawed guy. As Asian men, I think we can learn from the good, and try to call attention to and eradicate the bad. Is he a great role model or is he the worst person on the planet? The truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Written by Editorial Staff
