Simu Liu talks about cultural appropriation over boba tea 🧋

[milotic2]

Wyt people speaking about making an Asian thing better in front of an Asian is very ick.

Simu Liu had very valid points about this brand and their cultural appropriation of bubble tea. And pls, popping boba's been in the market back in like 2017 or something. pic.twitter.com/ajRqdIPQYu
- Gillian Hero (@lilyoftheveil17) October 11, 2024
The actor

Comments

[deerlike]

"Questionable" ingredients? Isn't boba just made from tapioca? That's eaten all over the world.

[skyler_white_yo]

I have a feeling their definition of questionable means non-western.

[sillyskinny]

Sounds about white.

[deerlike]

I mean, even in the West white people will eat tapioca pudding, so these so-called entrepreneurs look even more stupid and racist with their dog-whistling.

[felixfin]

To repeat the comment above, starting out the pitch saying real boba has questionable ingredients is so gross and that stood out to me so much. Nothing like French-Canadians making rascist remarks (I'm half French-Canadian sadly so I've heard similar shit from distant relatives I rarely see).
Also the fact that the other POC panelist was joking that Simu was asking hard questions, like yea he is, he is watching two yts pitch 'healthy' boba to him. I hate when yts try to 'elevate' an already staple Asian food.

[iznanassi]

french-canada is in its crunchy racism era massively. like to the point where they subsidize francophone int'l students because they know there's no way they'll stay in quebec, just to discourage anglophone out of province students from attending at full int'l student price.

[sarafina126]

This is 100% accurate. We are an embarassment.

[vanilla_09]

Hmmm I would argue that international francophone students 1000% sell their kidneys to stay here. Although your point about anglophone students is correct.

[iznanassi]

i agree with him here.

this is parallel since obviously korea and taiwan are not the same but for the past several years there's been open discourse about how fried chicken is better when koreans make it. that they took it from "american colonizers" (read: black people typically conscripting to avoid violence) when that's not even the origin of korean fried chicken lol...

when does discussing exchange, divergence and innovation cross into appropriation/disrespect?

[irajaxon]

~disrupting the bobba industry~ by having your formulation and production in taiwan. ah yes, much dispurt, very innovation.

this is the vending machine "bodega" all over again. this dismissiveness of everyone on that panel was gross af.

[lumiose_city]

LMAO as someone who lives in Taiwan hearing these white people talking about "their famous popping boba" i just. i need to lie down

[milotic2]

Side point, but you’re so lucky to have the famous pineapple cakes at your disposal. When I lived in Japan, my Taiwanese friend would bring me boxes of them whenever she went to visit her family

[itsme_eloise]

fr the pantelists talking about 'i've never heard of this' 'i've never tried this' yall are in the wrong neighborhoods! if popping boba has made it to my verrry white texas suburb (so white the closest decent taco shop is in the next suburb over) then it's not the new-fangled invention they were selling.

[varioussaints]

Right? I remember getting popping boba on my frozen yoghurt 12 years ago. Specifically 12 years ago, because that particular frozen yoghurt experience was what triggered the first and biggest gallbladder attack of my life. It might be new to the panelists (other than Simu) but it's not like it was new when it showed up on the menu in 2012, either. The Dragons/investors are decades out of date.