“I am a British man married to a filipina and we have two filipino children. I fully understood the context of the show and also understood the reasons behind the segment of the show ‘Unlikely lines a cosmetics company would say’
“I would not call myself a ‘Netizen’ and did not intend to make this into a bigger issue, I am upset and offended by some of the threats towards Katherine over this. However I organised a protest outside the BBC in London a couple of weeks ago and have also organised a further protest on Friday July 12th, again outside the BBC. I also organised a petition which to date has nearly 1,300 signatures.
“My reasons for doing all of this are simple, for far too long Filipinos have been used as a butt of jokes from Victoria Wood in the 90′s, Harry and Paul a few years back, the Lara Bohinc incident (google all of the above and add the words ‘filipino’ and you can read about them).
“Katherine Ryan did not have to refer to ‘filipino children’ at all, it simply was not funny, why refer to any nationality, I believe she would find any nationality would have also reacted badly. Hopefully you won’t accuse me of being a ‘Netizen’ or some Pinoy with a grudge, I am neither, as I said, I am a 100% British guy who just cannot accept any filipino being used as a joke, the use of any nationality in a negative or derogatory way could be described as racist, I will not rest until both Katherine Ryan and indeed the BBC apologise unreservedly.”
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From Pete Snaith, July 9, 2013 at 7:43 am
“I have been to the Philippines 15 times, several of my closest friends are Filipino. They are some of the most kind people I have met, I also have many Transsexual friends from the Philippines and still in the Philippines, and see a lot of discrimination towards them too. They are people too, that have real feelings like anyone else. So please try to be tolerant of all Filipinos! Equality for all humans!!”
filipinoscribe.com Mark Pere Madrona reports how netizens are aghast over racist remarks against Filipino children by a stand-up comic in a BBC show, at “British actress jokes about Filipino children on BBC show” at filipinoscribe.com/2013/06/17/british-actress-jokes-about-filipino-children-on-bbc-show.
UP CMC student 2012-12727 echoes opinions and ideas by netizens as reported in said blogpost, and writes: “This is not the first time that a foreigner has made an “accidental” quip about Filipinos on a public medium. One might recall Alec Baldwin’s “Filipina mail order bride” joke on David Letterman’s show, which caused an uproar for the insinuation that Filipinas allow their sexuality to be exploited and extorted for money. By doing this, Baldwin ridiculed, cast aspersions on, and degraded Filipinas for their sex and their race–that is to say, his comment was misogynistic through sexual objectification, as well as racist. It was unintended and probably said at the spur of the moment, but such things that are said usually lie in one’s subconscious before they get out. Baldwin’s situation was either that, or it was an attempt at randomness that came out badly. Furthermore, Baldwin has been in show business for a very long time, and he ought to have already known how to guard his words and be more discerning of what he said before a national audience.
“Canadian actress Katherine Ryan recently made a similar mistake on the BBC game show “Mock the Week”, an improvisational comedy show akin to the CBS’ “Whose Line is It Anyway?”. The prompt for a joke in one segment was “unlikely lines from a cosmetics commercial”, and she gave this line: “We don’t use any of our products on animals. We use Filipino children.” By saying the line, she ridiculed and degraded Filipino children by their race–and it is made even worse by the fact that her specific subjects are defenseless and have done nothing to earn such a comment. Those fortunate children struggle against obstacles to living their life fully, such as a lack of access to education, cases of abuse in some families, even child labor. That their hardships were belittled and mentioned in what was meant to be a humorous manner is tasteless and insensitive.
“The fact that the error was committed overseas by a foreign celebrity makes no difference. xxx (S)he had made light of the painful and very real struggles of an innocent group of people, some of whom might have no idea what her words mean. It is an ethical mistake anywhere. I hope Miss Ryan, like Alec Baldwin before her, would be more careful with what she says next time and recognize her responsibility as a public figure–even if it is on an improvisational comedy show.” Written by 2012-12727 using Mark Pere Madrona’s report and amplifying ideas and opinions of other netizens.