Constance Wu for the NY Times

[shangri__la]

The NYT print headline is prob more accurate to the content than the online version’s headline. Oh & it’s not really a memoir, but a book of several standalone essays. Thank u @Thessaly for writing w/ honesty, integrity & compassion https://t.co/2HyQWxYbse pic.twitter.com/BxGHp4XnLp
- Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) September 25, 2022
Constance Wu sat

Comments

[nomoneyfun]

I'm really sorry she had to experience sexual harassment. She's clearly a complicated person and I think her current evolution is an interesting case study of the importance of responding empathetically when bad things happen to people who otherwise have low credibility for their past behavior. Beyond rumors of her being unpleasant, you can literally find interviews where she's being rude to the interviewer. There is also that moment where she insisted on calling yellow face "blackface on Asians because it's more evocative." Like, girl please.

It's also interesting how much she's engaging in talking about race and racism in this interview. On one hand, people of color and women of color are often held to higher standards of conduct for their behavior in the court of public opinion. On the other hand, it's a strange response to essentially say that people of color have the right to be "imperfect" as a way to downplay poor behavior.

[ponyboy]

i am somewhat shocked people forgot that horrible blackface comment tbh. it was so terrible.

[pseudonygma]

. There is also that moment where she insisted on calling yellow face "blackface on Asians because it's more evocative."

That was horrendous and she really should not have worded it like that for shock factor if she wasn't going to provide context (assuming it didn't get cut). At the time of her saying it, Americans at large are only coming to terms of blackface being bad; nobody gaf about yellowface so while I could see why she would word it like that due to interview time constraints, it's not fair to hijack blackface/equate the two because the way blackface and yellowface is done/weaponized/belittled is completely different; the social ramifications of it are completely different as well.

[tellmeboyloveit]

I get that we should hold women to the same standards we hold everyone else to but it is truly so hard for me to grasp the intense amount of ill will she has recieved for being rude (not commenting on the blackface thing, that certainly deserves scrutiny and is not my place to discuss) when there's so many videos of so many male actors straight up sexually harassing interviewers or treating them like they're annoying iditos and nobody bats an eye or even thinks it's funny or memeable for the latter. It's frustrating and difficult to have to keep the same energy when nobody else seems to do so.

[headcaseheidi]

mte it’s transparent

[coquettishkat]

"She's clearly a complicated person and I think her current evolution is an interesting case study of the importance of responding empathetically when bad things happen to people who otherwise have low credibility for their past behavior."

as always, you put it very eloquently. i think so much of the flack she caught from the incident went towards things she did and said that weren't deserving of that level of scrutiny, whereas her past comment about "blackface is more evocative" (and i think she had another insensitive comment but i can't recall atm) should have been. and ia very much, for all the analysis of race and discrimination she did in this interview, i wish she would correct herself on her past ignorant remarks. it does sound like she's reflected more on the reality of being a woc in her time away from social media, but i hope that she will put that insight towards other communities of colour

btw i really appreciate and enjoy your comments in the constance posts lately <3