Katy Perry

[Ammuffin 1]

i'm telling y'all this is her BTW era lol

[MegaMiles 0]

I don't think it was racist but it was insensitive to Japanese culture. It wasnt represented correctly and merging it with CHINESE culture is extremely insensitive due to their bad history together that can be felt to this day.

If someone is to represent your culture, you'd want them to do it right.

[TRILL MONSTER 1,113]

The geisha thing has been done many times katy ...........

[Bambino 24,303]

I wouldnt say it was racist at all. Just kinda sloppy in its references to the cultures, but there was clearly no racist intentions behind it.

[Soundophobic 0]

Well, I know you guys wanna make excuses for her... But it was racist and ignorant?

It just shows that she feels Asian culture is interchangeable, with her mixing a Chinese styled dress with the Geisha aesthetics. You people should know d*mn well that that alone screams racism.

There's also the whole deal with the over-s-xualized dress and submissive undertones of the song paired with a performance standing on Asian influences...

Do you see the problem? If you don't, just remember that Asian women are fetishized to be over s-xualized and submissive to the Western folk.

That's the problem with the performance, it's degrading and racist, even if she didn't intended for it to be. 

 

But please, go ahead. Do make excuses for a woman who keeps making her eyes slanted with her fingers and says she wants to "skin Japanese people and wear them like Versace" if it makes you all feel better.

[stackhouse 3]

Well, I know you guys wanna make excuses for her... But it was racist and ignorant?

It just shows that she feels Asian culture is interchangeable, with her mixing a Chinese styled dress with the Geisha aesthetics. You people should know d*mn well that that alone screams racism.

There's also the whole deal with the over-s-xualized dress and submissive undertones of the song paired with a performance standing on Asian influences...

Do you see the problem? If you don't, just remember that Asian women are fetishized to be over s-xualized and submissive to the Western folk.

That's the problem with the performance, it's degrading and racist, even if she didn't intended for it to be. 

 

But please, go ahead. Do make excuses for a woman who keeps making her eyes slanted with her fingers and says she wants to "skin Japanese people and wear them like Versace" if it makes you all feel better.

 

I think the girl just loves Eastern culture so much she was willing to sacrifice her roots at her own American award show to show it off. What's the problem with her trying to cram it all in there? (it's because she was born with white skin, isn't it)

 

If an Asian performer mixed a Greek headdress with a Roman suit of armour, nobody would bat an eyelid.

 

Enough with this PC culture, grow a backbone people

[HarryTheNight 35]

its an interesting article because not knowing much about asian culture myself i didnt realise that she was melding the two together, i generally think of chinese and japanese culture to be quite similar just because i haven't been that educated in it, so i can't blame her team for making these mistakes, although you would think having her go on an international award ceremony they would have done a bit more research, but really its obvious there wasn't meant to be anything racist about it and she obviously just liked the imagery for this performance. It still sucked though, i felt like they had to throw in al the pretty scenery to distract from the fact that she cant really perform lol

[PopBitch 1,218]

Nah.  Several asian commentators have said it was respectful and a nod to the culture and very beautiful.  Just people trying to cause trouble. 

[Ken.Cute 0]

she was just being multicultural

[MahoganySnitch 67]

Cultural appropriation/ignorance/insensitive is still racist.

 

It's like wearing a Native American headdress or dressing up like a "Slutty Savage"

I think the girl just loves Eastern culture so much she was willing to sacrifice her roots at her own American award show to show it off. What's the problem with her trying to cram it all in there? (it's because she was born with white skin, isn't it)

 

If an Asian performer mixed a Greek headdress with a Roman suit of armour, nobody would bat an eyelid.

 

Enough with this PC culture, grow a backbone people

Except Greeks and Romans were not subjected to ridicule like being confronted by people stretching their eyes backwards for a more "Asian" look, and be "mistaken" for comfort girls/submissive geisha stereotypes. 

Nah.  Several asian commentators have said it was respectful and a nod to the culture and very beautiful.  Just people trying to cause trouble. 

Curious, but who are they? 

[StrawberryBlond 14,926]

Racist, maybe not, but certainly culturally insensitive. I thought by this time, people would know dressing up as a geisha is no longer that wise because it seems to draw cries of racism every time. To be honest, I thought her backing dancers outfits looked rather comical - there was one with really freaky make up and comedy eyebrows and there was something I've never seen before, there were several black women dressed as geishas too. Now that was an odd sight and really gives you pause. At least whites can get away with the look because the Japanese are of similar colour, but as blacks are nowhere near their colour and are basically nonexistant in Japan, this is when it gets uncomfortable. Coupled with the lyrics about loving someone unconditionally, when a geisha's job is to serve, entertain and compliment men...yeah, awkward levels rising. The only reason why I can accept someone like Gaga dressing as a geisha is because Gaga is a performance artist, is genuinely interested in other cultures and everything about her as an elegant flair. Gaga tries to be a walking work of art, so you can totally make an exception for her. Katy, on the other hand, has never been a good performer. Her vocals need urgent attention and this is likely why she has such elaborate sets to act as a distraction. She's always been such an all-American girl and has never seemed to show interest in embracing other cultures, minus Japanese, of course (which is such a stereotypical choice for lots of pop stars - Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne have certainly done it to a very cringeworthy degree). It all comes across like she's very ignorant about the culture and is one of those people who thinks the whole of Japan is like what you see in an anime cartoon.

 

On a final note, I never thought I'd see the day where Gaga would play her cards right and make an American themed performance at the AMAs and Katy would take the risk and have a foreign theme. And considering Katy's performed and her video's out, yet she's below Gaga on US itunes even though the DWUW video still hasn't been released...I think it's clear who's going to win this single battle. I never expected Katy to flop so hard with the second single. I thought she could release anything and have it be a hit at this point, but it looks like she can indeed have such a thing as a bad single choice and this negative press isn't going to help. Say what you want about how Judas killed the momentum of BTW, but at least it was actually a big top ten hit worldwide. Unconditionally still hasn't hit top ten anywhere and the video's been out for nearly a week but has yet to hit 10 million views which doesn't bode well for the rest of the album's longevity.

[Redstreak 6,653]

If anybody does anything that isn't part of their own culture, it's deemed racist.

 

That's racist in itself.

It's like an ironic version of segregation where people can only touch and do what is deemed appropriate for their race while being slated as a way to call out racism.

[Nemo 4,317]

On a final note, I never thought I'd see the day where Gaga would play her cards right and make an American themed performance at the AMAs and Katy would take the risk and have a foreign theme.

I didn't get why Gaga made that comment during the show, other than playing on the name. But now, reading this thread, I hope it wasn't somehow meant as a dig at Katy.

I never really paid any attention to the "American" in "American Music Awards"; I never thought it meant anything. I still don't. Foreign artists aren't excluded. It's about popular music in America, but so are the Billboard Awards, the Grammies, and the VMAs.

[MahoganySnitch 67]

I think Tumblr user d2fang said it best in this post.

 

(NOTE: this is edited for language, and it can be found at: http://d2fang.tumblr.com/post/68077544419/stop-asking-about-how-japanese-people-in-japan-feel). 

 

"Stop asking about how Japanese people in Japan feel about Katy Perry’s performance

I see this all the time when people call out cultural appropriation and racist bullsh*t in the US or other western countries.

 

"Oh but look at netizens in Korea, they think it’s cute!"

 

"Chinese international students at my university don’t even think this is such a big deal."

 

"Look at these comments from Japanese twitter accounts, they love it!!!!"

 

"Do people in Malaysia even care? Stop making such a big deal out of this. We blow everything out of proportion."

 

That. Is. Not. The. Point.

 

First of all, this is a--logous to “my *insert poc* friend thinks it’s okay, so it must be†except you’ve extended it to the entire f*cking foreign country. And no, it’s not okay. It is not okay because those individuals don’t even LIVE in the country where this is all occurring. Japanese people from Japan did not grow up watching their parents get made fun of for their accented English. They did not grow up having American classmates scrutinize the breakfast or lunch that they bring from home.

 

This is not about the international community. This is about the Asian American community here. WE are here. WE have grown up here being bullied by the rest of you for our food, our clothing, and the traditions we attempt to celebrate with our loved ones. WE are the ones who had to feel ashamed of our parents or grandparents for not being “American†enough. WE are the ones who hated our “flat faces†or “slanted†eyes or “smelly†lunch food.

 

AND THEN. After all that we have attempted to do to reject our culture to become more like you, YOU have the f*cking audacity to TAKE what you’ve TAUGHT us to reject, and USE it to raise your NON-Asian self to the next level of approval from your peers. And suddenly, everyone loves what you’ve done with our culture. YOU are the expert, not us. Our culture is so cool. Our culture is so fashionable. But only when it’s not on our hands.

 

So when Asian Americans are telling you that it’s racist, and you try to trump our words with those from across the seas, shut up. Seriously. Shut up. Our parents when they came here were from across the seas, and you didn’t give a sh*t about their words when they came here. You did your best to silence them with your hate. My heritage is from across the seas and you had no problem criticizing me for it when I was growing up. So why is it okay for Katy Perry to parade around like that? Especially since there were so many (TOO many) inaccuracies in her portrayal too?

 

Stop missing the f*cking point."

 

And before you come to eat me alive, know that these are d2fang's words (Although I do agree with them). If you have an issue to raise, I suggest going to d2fang's message box (although I hope you don't resort to anon mode and wreak verbal havoc). 

[Vernier 3,786]

what should worry you is that once again katy is more talked than gaga :)

I think that's you seeing what you want to see and trying to score a cheap point with it than what's actually happening :roll: And just like Miley at the VMAs, if people are talking about Katy, but negatively, then good for her.