Elected officials and activists staged a protest outside the Manhattan headquarters of Fox News on Thursday over a segment in which a correspondent conducted a series of mocking interviews of Asian-Americans in New York City’s Chinatown that critics said trafficked in stereotypes and veered into racism.
周四,一些民選官員和活動人士因一個電視片段,在Fox新聞頻道(Fox News)的曼哈頓總部外進行抗議。在那個片段中,一名記者在紐約的唐人街對亞裔美國人進行了一系列嘲弄性采訪,批評者稱其飽含刻板印象和種族主義傾向。
The correspondent, Jesse Watters, who has been accused of stalking and harassment for his ambush-style interviews on the street, expressed “regret” late Wednesday after provoking a storm of criticism for the segment that was broadcast on Monday.
涉事記者杰西·沃特斯(Jesse Watters)被指責為進行“埋伏式”采訪而在街上跟蹤、騷擾行人。周一,該片段播放后遭到暴風雨般的批評。周三晚些時候,沃特斯對此事表示“遺憾”。
Mayor Bill de Blasio called the segment “vile.” And Councilman Peter Koo said in a statement: “Passing off this blatantly racist television segment as ‘gentle fun’ not only validates racist stereotypes, it encourages them. The entire segment smacks of willful ignorance by buying into the perpetual foreigner syndrome.
紐約市長白思豪(Bill de Blasio)稱這段視頻“很卑劣”。市議員顧雅明(Peter Koo)在一項聲明中稱:“把這個公然的種族主義電視片段輕描淡寫為‘溫和的玩笑’不僅是認可而且是鼓勵種族主義刻板印象。整段視頻信奉永久外國人綜合征(perpetual foreigner syndrome),帶有執(zhí)意無知的意味。
“How is it, that in New York City in 2016, this is still O.K.? Short answer: It’s not, and it is unfortunate that Fox News needs to be reminded of that.”
“在2016年的紐約市,這怎么可能依然被接受?簡而言之:不能接受。很不幸,F(xiàn)ox新聞頻道需要知道這一點。”
Fox broadcast the interviews as part of “Watters’ World,” a recurring segment on “The O’Reilly Factor,” the network’s top-rated show. The host, Bill O’Reilly, introduced the piece by saying it had been inspired by how frequently China was mentioned during the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump.
這些采訪是作為《沃特斯的世界》(Watters’ World)的一部分在Fox頻道播出的。后者是該頻道收視率最高的節(jié)目《奧萊利實情》(The O’Reilly Factor)中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的一個環(huán)節(jié)。主持人比爾·奧萊利(Bill O’Reilly)在介紹這個片段時稱,它的靈感來源是,在希拉里·克林頓(Hillary Clinton)和唐納德·J·特朗普(Donald J. Trump)的首場總統(tǒng)辯論中,中國經(jīng)常被提及。
But the nearly five-minute video was interspersed with references to martial arts and scenes of Mr. Watters getting a foot massage, playing with nunchucks and asking loaded questions that some residents appeared not to understand or couldn’t answer. Clips from well-known movies were sprinkled throughout the segment, including “The Karate Kid” and “Chinatown.”
但是,近5分鐘的視頻經(jīng)常提到武術,點綴著沃特斯接受足底按摩和玩雙節(jié)棍的畫面,他還經(jīng)常提出一些暗藏圈套的問題,有些居民似乎無法理解或回答這些問題。視頻還穿插了很多知名電影中的片段,包括《龍威小子》(The Karate Kid)和《唐人街》(Chinatown)。
Mr. Watters begins the piece with an instrumental version of the Carl Douglas song “Kung Fu Fighting” playing softly in the background. He asks two young women, “Am I supposed to bow to say hello?” He asks a street vendor if his wares were stolen: “I like these watches — are they hot?”
視頻開頭是卡爾·道格拉斯(Carl Douglas)的歌曲《中國功夫》(Kung Fu Fighting)的演奏版,它作為背景音樂一直在輕聲播放。沃特斯問兩名年輕女子,“我打招呼時是不是應該鞠躬?”他問一名街上小販他的貨物是不是贓物:“我喜歡這些手表——它們是燙手貨?”
When he asks some passers-by their opinion of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump, the two men answer in accented English, and their answers are displayed in subtitles at the bottom of the screen.
他詢問一些行人對克林頓和特朗普的看法時,有兩名男子說話帶有口音,他們的回答在屏幕下方用字幕顯示。
“Trump has been beating up on China; how does that make you feel?” he asks an older woman. He peppers others with questions like “Is it the year of the dragon ... rabbit?” “Is everything made in China now?” “Do they call Chinese food in China just food?”
“特朗普一直在抨擊中國,你對此有何感想?”他問一位年長的女性。他用這樣的問題接連追問其他人:“今年是龍年……還是兔年?”“現(xiàn)在所有的東西都是中國生產(chǎn)的嗎?”“在中國,中國菜是不是就叫菜?”
And at one point, when another young woman says she really doesn’t want to vote for Mr. Trump so her choice was Mrs. Clinton, he opines, “So China can keep ripping us off.”
在某個時刻,另一名年輕女性說,她真的不想投票給特朗普,所以她選擇克林頓,他發(fā)表意見說,“好讓中國繼續(xù)敲詐我們。”
The segment provoked an uproar among social media users, and Asian-American groups denounced it. The Asian-American Journalists Association said it was “outraged and shocked” and demanded an apology from the network.
該片段在社交媒體上引起軒然大波,亞裔美國人團體紛紛譴責。亞裔美國記者協(xié)會(The Asian-American Journalists Association)稱它“令人憤怒和震驚”,要求該電視網(wǎng)道歉。
“We should be far beyond tired, racist stereotypes and targeting an ethnic group for humiliation and objectification on the basis of their race,” the group said in a statement. “Sadly, Fox News proves it has a long way to go in reporting on communities of color in a respectful and fair manner.”
“我們應該早已遠離陳腐的種族主義刻板印象以及從種族角度出發(fā)針對一個族群進行羞辱和物化,”該團體在一項聲明中表示。“不幸的是,F(xiàn)ox新聞頻道表明,要實現(xiàn)以尊重和公平的方式報道有色群體,我們還要走很長一段路。”
The influential blog Angry Asian Man, founded by Phil Yu, a Korean-American, described the segment in a post as “a new low, even for Fox News.”
韓裔美國人菲爾·余(Phil Yu,音)創(chuàng)立的有影響力的博客“憤怒的亞洲人”(Angry Asian Man)在一篇帖子中寫道,該片段達到了“新低點,甚至對Fox新聞頻道來講都是如此”。
“Jesse Watters went for a holy-crap-that’s-so-racist-man-on-the-street approach,” the post said.
“杰西·沃特斯采取了‘街頭混蛋種族主義者’的方式,”該帖子稱。
State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, whose district includes Chinatown, condemned the segment for “stereotyping, mockery and a thinly veiled disdain for immigrants.”
紐約州參議員丹尼爾·L·斯夸德隆(Daniel L. Squadron)譴責該片段“是對移民陳腐的、嘲弄的、露骨的蔑視”。他的選區(qū)包括唐人街。
In addition to Mr. Koo, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, Representatives Grace Meng and Nydia Velasquez, and Assemblymen Ron Kim and Walter T. Mosley attended the rally on Thursday, according to a statement from the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus.
據(jù)紐約州黑人、波多黎各裔、西班牙裔和亞裔黨團(New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus)的一項聲明稱,除了顧雅明,紐約市主計長斯科特·M·斯特林格(Scott M. Stringer)、眾議院議員孟昭文(Grace Meng)和尼迪婭·貝拉斯克斯(Nydia Velasquez),以及州眾議院議員金兌錫(Ron Kim)和沃爾特·T·莫斯利(Walter T. Mosley)也參加了周四的集會。
Mr. Watters, who responded to his critics on Twitter on Wednesday, said he considered himself “a political humorist” and regretted that he had upset people. He said his interviews were meant to be taken as a lighthearted joke.
周三,沃特斯在Twitter上回應他的批評者時稱,他認為自己是“一個政治幽默家”,對自己令人不快感到遺憾。他說自己的采訪只是輕松的玩笑。
Mr. Watters and Mr. O’Reilly, however, appeared to anticipate that the interviews would cause a stir when the segment was broadcast on Monday.
不過,沃特斯和奧萊利似乎預料到這些采訪周一播出后會引起嘩然。
“I know we’re going to get letters,” Mr. O’Reilly said. “It’s inevitable.” The Fox host added that he was surprised, considering how “insulated” he believed the residents of Chinatown were, that many seemed to be aware of what was going on politically.
“我知道我們會收到來信,”奧萊利說,“這是不可避免的。”Fox的這位主持人還表示,他本以為唐人街的居民在政治上是“絕緣的”,但是很多人似乎知道政壇正在發(fā)生什么,這令他感到意外。
Mr. Watters said one man who had responded negatively to him was “one of many” who “hated” him. “They’re such a polite people — they won’t walk away or tell me to get out of here,” he said, laughing.
沃特斯說,一個對他給予負面回應的男人是“恨”他的“很多人之一”。“他們這個族群非常禮貌——他們不會轉(zhuǎn)身走開或叫我滾開,”他大笑著說。
“They’re patient, they’re patient,” Mr. O’Reilly replied.
“他們很有耐心,很有耐心,”奧萊利回應說。
Renee Tajima-Peña, a professor of Asian-American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the segment captured a longstanding and distinct feature of anti-Asian sentiment in the United States.
加州大學洛杉磯分校(University of California, Los Angeles)的亞裔美國人研究教授雷妮·田島-佩尼亞(Renee Tajima-Peña)稱,該視頻片段展現(xiàn)出美國長期存在的明顯的反亞裔情緒。
“They mock the Chinese and Chinese-Americans, yet the backhanded compliments — he said these people were so polite,” Professor Tajima-Peña said. “That kind of duality of the perception of Asians has been there since time immemorial and the beginning of the republic.”
“他們嘲笑中國人和華裔美國人,然后又說些挖苦的恭維話——他說這些人很禮貌,”田島-佩尼亞說,“這種對亞裔的雙重觀念從很久以前、從美國建國之初就存在。”
“We are either perpetual foreigners or we are the favored model minority,” she added. “We are a threat or we are docile.”
“我們或者永遠是外國人,或者是受青睞的模范少數(shù)民族,”她補充說,“我們或者是一種威脅,或者是很溫順。”
Mr. Watters has been at the center of controversy before. He became known for street interviews that sometimes seemed to serve little purpose save for bothering critics of Fox News or Mr. O’Reilly. In 2009, Amanda Terkel, then an editor at the liberal website Think Progress, wrote that she had been “accosted” by Mr. Watters while on vacation in a town two hours from where she lived.
沃特斯以前就曾處于爭議中心。他以街頭采訪聞名,有些采訪似乎就是為了煩擾Fox或奧萊利的批評者,沒有別的目的。2009年,時任自由派網(wǎng)站Think Progress編輯的阿曼達·特克爾(Amanda Terkel)寫道,她在離居住地兩小時車程的小鎮(zhèn)度假時遭到沃特斯的“不友好搭訕”。
She said she had been “followed, harassed and ambushed,” and referred to him as “O’Reilly’s top hit man.”
她稱,自己被“跟蹤、騷擾、伏擊”,稱他是“奧萊利的頭號殺手”。
That incident reared its head years later, when Mr. Watters found himself in a brawl at the United States Institute of Peace during an after-party for the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.
這一事件多年后出現(xiàn)續(xù)集。在美國和平研究所(United States Institute of Peace)舉辦的一年一度的白宮記者晚宴(White House Correspondents Dinner)余興派對上,沃特斯發(fā)現(xiàn)自己陷入一場打斗。
The fight began when Ryan Grim, a reporter at The Huffington Post, where Ms. Terkel is currently employed, tried to film Mr. Watters with an iPhone. Fisticuffs soon followed.
事情的起因是《赫芬頓郵報》(The Huffington Post)的記者瑞安·格里姆(Ryan Grim)試圖用iPhone手機拍攝沃特斯的視頻。這很快引發(fā)了打斗。特克爾目前就職于《赫芬頓郵報》。
“Ambush guy can’t take getting ambushed,” Mr. Grim told The Washington Post. “Maybe he should think about his life choices.”
“愛搞伏擊的家伙無法忍受被伏擊,”格里姆在接受《華盛頓郵報》(The Washington Post)采訪時稱,“也許他應該考慮一下自己的人生選擇。”