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Black Twitter clowned professional cultural appropriator Awkwafina after she addressed criticisms regarding her incessant use of a “Blaccent” to further her career.
On Feb. 5, the Crazy Rich Asians star attempted to finally speak about accusations of using stereotypical tropes of Black folks to gain clout. Awkwafina built her entire brand on caricatures of Black life and culture, including the ‘sassy Black girl” and Blaccent, for years but remained relatively silent whenever she was called to the carpet.
Awkwafina, born Nora Lum, took to Twitter to explain herself and offer what many deemed a sorry not sorry attitude about her past work. She also announced that she would no longer use the social media platform.
“There is a sociopolitical context to everything, especially the historical context of the African-American community in this country,” she wrote. “It is a group that is disproportionately affected by institutionalized policies and law enforcement policies — all while having historically and routinely seen their culture stolen, exploited, and appropriated by the *dominant* culture for monetary gain without any acknowledgment nor respect for where those roots come from, the pioneers of its beginnings, and the artists that perfected and mastered the craft.”
Awkwafina then let her Twitter fingers justify her egregious behavior. The 33-year-old Queens, New York native even claimed to be an “immigrant” while attributing her cultural appropriation to loving hip-hop – despite having an almost ten-year-old video stating she was born and raised in New York.
“As a non-Black POC, I stand by the fact that I will always listen and work tirelessly to understand the history and context of AAVE, what is deemed appropriate or backwards toward the progress of ANY and EVERY marginalized group.”
The American-born woman of Chinese and Korean descent also wrote that she never meant to “mock, belittle, or to be unkind in any way possible at the expense of others is.”
— nora (@awkwafina) February 5, 2022
“My immigrant background allowed me to carve an American identity off the movies and tv shows I watched, the children I went to public school with, and my undying love and respect for hip hop,” she continued. “I think, as a group, Asian Americans are still trying to figure out what that journey means for them — what is correct and where they don’t belong.”
Awkwafina also vowed that she would “spend the rest” of her career “uplifting our communities.”
Black Twitter dragged Awkawfina over the patronizing tweets and made it clear that there would be no redemption.
Hold up, you yourself said you had not done a typical Asian accent for your roles because it’s disrespectful to your people I’ll do your people. Yet for some reason when it comes to a blaccent you write this long, tossed, word salad and don’t even acknowledge the harm you caused
— Block Nikita Dragun (whatever her names is) (@VivanteFemme) February 6, 2022
You’re lying.
You’re not an immigrant you were born here in Queens just like me.
You weren’t around Black people your neighborhood is 2% Black.
Your high school is 9% Black.
Those low low numbers in a boro that’s 20% Black….basically you lived a segregated life.
— The Cocky One (@CockyMF) February 5, 2022
Honestly, most of my racism growing up didn’t come from whites people, I lived in the hood. It was the Asians that set up shop in my community that followed me around the store, EVERYTIME, even after seeing, from birth to 18 that I stole nothing. Then I graduated college….
— Hello World (@HelloWo15928736) February 6, 2022
Even Asians weren’t trying to be associated with her nonsense.
“As a group, Asian Americans are still trying to figure out what that means to them”
Please leave the rest of us out of this.
— Casey Ho (@CaseyHo) February 6, 2022
🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅 pic.twitter.com/HjGE2YXPlg
— Lady Sesshōmaru (@JasmineSW3) February 5, 2022
Why is it so hard to take accountability. Your career thrived initially because of the characterization black culture. This is especially harmful when you openly refuse to not embody stereotypes of Asian culture. All are tacky. You know it’s wrong but chose to ignore.
— DestinyAKAHotsauce (@HotsauceDestiny) February 5, 2022
To date, the only “uplifting” or charitable work she’s done has been in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. In 2020, she raised money for Chinatown businesses in New York. In 2019, she was honored for her outstanding work in the AAPI community. Her work in the community she used as a come-up remains to be seen. However, she was nominated for an NAACP award to the chagrin of Black folks.
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