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Jay Lenohas issued an apology for past racist jokes he made about Asians following decades of criticism.
For more on Jay Leno’s apology, listen below to the episode of PEOPLE Every Day.
“At the time I did those jokes, I genuinely thought them to be harmless,” Leno said during the call, according to a MANAA press release. “I was making fun of our enemy North Korea, and like most jokes, there was a ring of truth to them.”
He continued, “At the time, there was a prevailing attitude that some group is always complaining about something, so don’t worry about it. Whenever we received a complaint, there would be two sides to the discussion: Either ‘We need to deal with this’ or ‘Screw ‘em if they can’t take a joke.’ Too many times I sided with the latter even when in my heart I knew it was wrong.”
“I am issuing this apology. I do not consider this particular case to be another example of cancel culture but a legitimate wrong that was done on my part,” Leno added. “MANAA has been very gracious in accepting my apology. I hope that the Asian American community will be able to accept it as well, and I hope I can live up to their expectations in the future.”
The comedian’s apology comes after years of the advocacy group calling him out for his public jokes about Korean people, which date back as far as 2002 and as recently as 2019, whenGabrielle Unionspoke outabout him making a derogatory comment while they were filmingAmerica’s Got Talent.
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According to the press release, MANAA’s long-sought conversation with Leno occurred only after the organization told Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and producers Tom Werner and David Hurwitz that they would contact the advertisers for Leno’s upcoming game show,You Bet Your Life,if they did not take action.
A representative for Fox tells PEOPLE the network is “very supportive” of Leno speaking with MANAA and apologizing. Reps for Leno, Werner and Hurwitz did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Earlier this month, eight people, six of whom were Asian women, were killed in aspree shootingat three Atlanta-area spas. Thevictimsinclude Hyun Jung Grant, 51, Soon Chung Park, 74, Suncha Kim, 69, Yong Ae Yue, 63, Xiaojie Yan, 49, Daoyou Feng, 44, Delaina Ashley Yuan, 33, and Paul Andre Michels, 54.
To learn more and to report crimes, go to:Asian Americans Advancing Justice,Stop the AAPI Hate,National Council of Asian Pacific Americans,Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA, andAsian Pacific Policy & Planning Council.
source: people.com
