Tipsheet

Have You Ever Heard of 'Identifying' as Asian?

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  March 13, 2023 3:30 PM

The one year I don’t go to the movies, the Asians dominate the 95th Academy Awards. The film Everything Everywhere All at Once scored seven wins, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. I have yet to see the film, but any movie that combines the immigrant experience with the multiverse (not MCU) must be quite the trip. The plot revolves around a Chinese immigrant laundromat worker who must set things right in several parallel universes featuring herself to avoid a calamity. It has historic for actress Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian woman to win in the category. But other actors clinched career milestones: Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress. And Ke Huy Quan, whom you might remember as 'Short Round' from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and 'Data' from The Goonies, won Best Supporting Actor. 

The problem is how some outlets reported on Yeoh’s win. 

“Michelle Yeoh makes #Oscars95 history as the first actress who identifies as Asian to win in the Best Actress category,” wrote Entertainment Tonight.

“Michelle Yeoh wins the Oscar for best actress, making history as the first person who identifies as Asian to win the award,” posted NPR. 

“Identifies as Asian” is an odd way to describe someone of that race. There are no Rachel Dolezal games at play. Ms. Yeoh is an Asian woman and still stunning. The Woke Left is desperately trying to lecture us about why this is an appropriate description because back in the 1930s, there was another Asian actress, Merle Oberon, who was nominated for the same award for The Black Angel (1935). The difference is that Ms. Oberon hid her East Asian heritage; she was biracial.

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But we all know that’s crap because racial identity is at the core of the far left, along with the authoritarian enforcement measures that go with it. It’s why these people go nuts when someone of a differing racial background tries to do something like cook another culture’s food. Yes, people have been canceled over such infractions. They’re trying to frame it as Yeoh being liberated to identify as she wishes with his win. And while it is historic and a significant moment in Oscar history, it leeches into the silly games, where the Left condones people identifying as they like until it becomes problematic, which is a criterion that’s beyond subjective. 

Just say she’s the first Asian to win because that’s a fact. Oberon didn’t win Best Actress in the 1930s.

Also, when The New York Times gets it right on the first pitch, you know you screwed up.