'Kim's Convenience' Star Jean Yoon Calls Out Producers, Speaks Out on 'Overtly Racist' Storylines

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“Kim’s Convenience” star Jean Yoon spoke out on the show’s racist storylines, lack of Asian female representation and her difficult experience on set in a series of tweets. 

Yoon’s Twitter Clapback: In response to Globe and Mail TV critic John Doyle sharing his op-ed on Twitter about Simu Liu’s Facebook rant, Yoon defended her castmate and gave insight into her experience on set.

  • Doyle “dissected Liu’s criticisms,” according to Deadline. 
  • He also claimed that it wasn’t a “fair fight” since Liu was “deploying his fans against creators and producers” of the show. Doyle characterized Liu’s Facebook post as “mean-spirited drive-by insults,” reported TV Line.
  • Doyle has deactivated his Twitter account since the posting. 
  • Yoon started her response with “Dear sir” and called his comments against Liu “neither helpful nor merited” and wrote that while Ins Choi created the show, his co-creator Kevin White ran the show and “clearly set the parameters.” 

Experience on Set: Yoon spoke out about how the lack of Asian females and Korean writers in the writer’s room made her life “very difficult” and her experience on set “painful.”

  •  She revealed that the storylines for season five were originally “overtly racist” and “extremely culturally inaccurate” under Choi’s “diminished presence.” According to Yoon, the show’s original core values were restored and the offensive jokes were removed once Choi regained leadership of the show. 
  • Yoon explained that when she brought up the fact that “Koreans hardly ever get MS,” producers would ask why it mattered and claimed she “doesn’t understand comedy.” She criticized the fact that there were no Koreans in the writer’s room and that if she hadn’t spoken up, all of the Korean food in the show would have been incorrect. 
  • She finds it “tragic” that the crew refused to “believe the urgency with which we advocated for inclusion in the writers room.”

Featured Image via Kim’s Convenience (left), jeanyoon88 (right)

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