Chris Rock's Asian Math Joke Doesn't Add Up For Everyone

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Chris Rock’s Asian Math Joke Doesn’t Add Up For Everyone

February 29, 2016 – In a night that was clearly intended to be as much about diversity as it was movies, the 88th Annual Academy Awards took an awkward left turn when host Chris Rock made a joke hinging on the stereotype that all Asians are good at math. The comedian introduced the accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers with “They sent us their most dedicated, accurate and hard working representatives. Please welcome Ming Zhu, Bao Ling and David Moskowitz.” And out came three young Asian children. Rock joked:

“If anybody’s upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids.”

And tweet they did:

Think my brain shut down for a few minutes. Did that appalling joke about Asian kids actually happen? #Oscars

— Justin Chang (@JustinCChang) February 29, 2016

Hey Asian kids, so you’ve never seen an Asian actor nominated in your lifetime, but maybe one day you can be a prop for a shit joke. #Oscars — Angry Asian Man (@angryasianman) February 29, 2016

Half-assed Asian joke, #Oscars, and then preach about diversity? #LoseMe — Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) February 29, 2016

Umm, no @chrisrock. Using little Asian kids to joke about math stereotypes and child labor isn’t funny. — Grace Hwang Lynch (@HapaMamaGrace) February 29, 2016

They played off Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy talking about honor killings but they gave Chris Rock 45 seconds for that bit??

— Kat Dennings (@OfficialKat) February 29, 2016

The joke seemed at odd’s with Rock’s own agenda and the theme of the entire show. Best Director winner Alejandro Iñárritu said in his acceptance speech:

“What a great opportunity to our generation, to really liberate yourself from all prejudice and this tribal thinking and make sure for once and forever that the color of skin becomes as irrelevant as the length of our hair.”