Jimmy Kimmel hosted a “kid’s table” discussion on the US government shutdown last week, eliciting the usual spate of “kids say the darndest things” chuckles from the audience. But one sound bite in particular stood out. Let’s roll the tape.
“America owes China a lot of money, $1.3 trillion,” Kimmel says. “How should we pay them back?”
The first child to respond, Braxton, suggests — after a bit of mumbling — that we should “kill everyone in China.”
Awww.
“Kill everyone in China?” Kimmel asks with an incredulous chuckle.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, that’s an interesting idea.”
“Put a huge wall so they can’t come to us,” says another child, leading to a Great Wall joke.
And then the discussion continues about whether we should really kill everyone in China (is that even possible?), whether America should pay their debts (“Yes!”), and, well, whether we should kill everyone in China. I think the four kids voted 3-1 against the idea.
POSTSCRIPT: We can’t not mention this, though we’d rather not: as reported by SCMP, there’s a White House petition to “investigate Jimmy Kimmel’s Kid’s Table Government Shutdown Show on ABC Network,” tagged “Human Rights.” Quote:
It is extremely distasteful and this is the same rhetoric used in Nazi Germany against Jewish people. Please immediately cut the show and issue a formal apology.
If we find there’s any way to petition this petition, I’ll let you know.
UPDATE, 10/29, 2:15 am: As of late Monday the petition had 55,000 people who really hated the joke, so ABC has been dragged into the ablution of apologizing so that we can all get on with our lives.
(H/T Alicia)
I dont understand your comment on postscript.
The Asian Americans who support the petition are surely of the conservative, humorless sect that makes me embarrassed to be Asian American.
Also, come fucking on:
>>this is the same rhetoric used in Nazi Germany against Jewish people
“…The Asian Americans who support the petition are surely of the conservative, humorless sect….”
I strongly disagree.
First, “kill all the Chinese so that we don’t have to pay back money” is not funny, it is just a way of thinking cultivated in video games. Therefore, those who didn’t find it funny are not necessarily “humorless”, they were just speaking the truth.
Second, not everyone who signed this petition is comparing the kid’s words to Nazi’s. Some of them might be seriously offended while others just don’t like it. I signed the petition mainly because I found the US mainstream media is being inconsistent in so-called Political Correctness. They will never say “kill the blacks” or “kill the Muslims”. But now it’s OK to say “kill the Chinese”?? So let’s stage a little protest to see what will happen. It is not like we are making fuss about every tiny issue and being very annoying. I don’t remember any other incident of “humorless Chinese demanding apology for a joke” in the past year. hmmmm…..except Joe Biden’s speech.
Third, these kids were talking about “Chinese”, not “Asian-Americans”. Of course Chinese citizens have a little more reason of feeling unhappy about it. Those who signed it could be predominantly Chinese citizens even though their geographical location suggest they are in United States. How do you know there is any “Asian-American” among them? How did you find out their nationality? You have a backdoor to the website?
Ah ha!!
THE FEELINGS OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN HURT!!!!
why are the feeling of the Chinese people so sensitive? grow the F up and get over it.
I see Chinese people insulting others on a daily basis and no one has asked them for an apology.
BTW I do realize you’re being sarcastic.
“THE CHINESE PEOPLE”? Oh no. I DO NOT dare to represent all the Chinese. I wish I could. Maybe one day I will be elected as president. Just Maybe. *_*
“orly – October 24th, 2013 12:09pm – why are the feeling of the Chinese people so sensitive? grow the F up and get over it.”
_______
Well, I make dozens of comments on the Internet everyday. In almost all the cases, I have an opinion and I just want to speak up. There isn’t much emotional feeling.
I am not sensitive. I am just trying out the so-called Freedom of Speech. You have never heard of that thing, do you?
Linghong, I’m glad you are using your freedom of speech and even an attempt at democracy (“Maybe one day I will be elected as president. “)
We all know your country need more of both.
orly — October 24th, 2013 4:58pm — Linghong, I’m glad you are using your freedom of speech and even an attempt at democracy (“Maybe one day I will be elected as president. “)
We all know your country need more of both.
_________________
You will be disappointed. I am not interested in Democracy and Freedom of Speech at all, not for now.
If people cannot even tell the difference between joke and insult, right and wrong, what good can Democracy and Free Speech do to me? What my country need most is up to the people to decide, not you.
And I want to say thank you very much for insulting me. You are very good at using the F-word. If anyone ever say that word to me in real life, I won’t hesitate to beat the shit out of him. Luckily I have never seen such person in real life. Interestingly, people tend to be very rude on the internet, especially when they are using alias.
I disagree.
This is not merely a question about humorlessness or conservativeness; wishing death upon another man, let alone the extermination of an entire nation, is not something to be taken lightly. And although there are those who may write it off as merely a joke on a talk show, the sentiments behind the statements must exist to a certain degree. At the point where Kimmel assumes control over the lives of the Chinese by asking, “Should we allow the Chinese to live?”, the joke transforms into something more serious.
Pertaining to the comparison the Chinese protestors make, drawing parallels between Kimmel’s statements and the Nazis may have been taking it too far, but I think that the political incorrectness demonstrated by this comparison is miniscule as opposed to the political incorrectness apparent in the statements made by Kimmel.
I disagree.
This is not merely a question about humorlessness or conservativeness; wishing death upon another man, let alone the extermination of an entire nation, is not something to be taken lightly. And although there are those who may write it off as merely a joke on a talk show, the sentiments behind the statements must exist to a certain degree. At the point where Kimmel assumes control over the lives of the Chinese by asking, “Should we allow the Chinese to live”, the joke transforms into something more serious.
Also, comparing this mindset to the Nazis may have been taking it too far, but I think that the political incorrectness demonstrated by this comparison is miniscule as opposed to the political incorrectness apparent in the statements made by Kimmel.
Well I not a ounce of Asian in me and i cringed to high hell when i first seen this.
Now I got the feeling “we should kill all Americans” and fck their debt to the world.
Problem solved.
This is not funny. It reflects racial discrimination of some ABC guys. ABC must apologize for such inappropriate and disgusting show.
American born Chinese people must apologize?
it is not funny. not finding this stupid joke not funny does not make anyone humorless.
your defense sounds like something a kid would say in defense of his bullies. they beat me up and i’m not going to complain because i don’t want to be a part of a humorless sect.
Just put yourself in their shoes, if this is a bunch of Chinese kids saying, ” just kill all americans.” I don’t know how you would feel.
This is not funny, it’s aweful
I want to have a sense of humor on this, but just cannot. There should be joint petition to white house on child abuse by ABC and Jimmy in addition to China part:
These four innocent kids were manipulated to shout out the evil thoughts then being aired to the whole world (asking why so many senseless shooting). I am sure ABC is protected by some sort of smart contract/deal so nobody can sue them. But I am calling the parents and relatives of these four kids to stand up for your kids, they are the ultimate victims. We don’t allow children to be part of pornography, airing them in such a disgusting show is just as bad. There has to be some new laws to mandate media to take better approach to protect our children, instead of using them to get attention. Those children rights advocates, where are you? Stand up and speak out!
They used kids as mouthpieces on a piece of comedy that wouldn’t be accepted when spoken from adults…
“Oh, it’s okay, because a little kid said it”.
However, it was an ADULT that came up with the line, and TOLD the kid to say it because it’s “funny”.
One can see the dastardly evil in this.
It is another example of our failure in family education, school education, society education and now the network education. Racial remarks cannot be tolerated. Will the network say “Kill all Jews” or “Kill all black”. That’s why when the children grow up, they will shoot for fun. We can blame the gun control, but also the family education and the violent video games. Shame on you the network. There is no entertainment value.
Did you watch these kids debate with one another? They are exploring, they are innocent, they are working out ideas for themselves. The ideas are so extreme it’s funny. Do you think this reflects most American attitudes? It’s funny BECAUSE it’s so outrageous. It’s funny because they are children who are highly creative. It’s funny because Kimmel makes fun of them for us when they’re ideas are insane. DON’T YOU GET IT?
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Trying out freedom of speech person: You can’t honestly say you are trying freedom of speech, then contradict yourself by saying you shouldn’t have freedom of speech. It’s preposterous. Are you one of the 2 million Chinese censors? Give me a break.
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Comparison to blacks in America : You have no idea about racism and black history in the USA. Totally different. That may be TOO politically correct today to make jokes sure, but just because that is, doesn’t mean everything else should be OFF the table. There’s a flip side to ALL : it’s called nothing. And in the west we prefer NOTHING IS OFF LIMITS if there’s a choice. You are forced to think when someone argues a point that you disagree with. This is good for the world. Stiffling it just causes resentment, it keeps people stuck with their bullshit. HIDING it is MUCH WORSE than discussing and having a chance to change your attitude. —
To failure in family education and EVERYONE talking about race : It’s ‘nationalist’, not RACIST. Nationalism is also crap, but it’s more insulting your government than anything else. And guess what? We insult our government too, we insult all governments – they are full of bullshit. THE FUNNY THING: is you are being nationalist and not even recognizing it. I’ve been to china, many times, don’t sit here and tell me you don’t feel China Pride.. Big country on the come up.. Give me a break. Nationalism, as racism, is for stupid prideful people and for CHILDREN WHO DON’T KNOW BETTER YET AND CAN’T EVEN THINK FOR THEMSELVES. They can’t make rice/pancakes. You treat your child by chastising them like that, then you are a terrible parent! Ruling with FEAR and indoctrination rather than having an open discussion makes for stupid adults later who can’t reason or think for themselves.
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To the guy who thinks and adult came up with this line : You are projecting your fears of the Chinese government on your own lives, which is also probably bullshit in many cases. Kids are hilarious without needing ‘lines fed to them’. They are far more weirdly creative than most adults. Yours is religious thought, making a bad assumption then arguing against it. It’s a strawman fallacy, if you knew proper reasoning and logic, you would know this. But you don’t. You are just making yourself angry through lack of education alone.
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To everyone against it: American humor is hilarious precisely because WE FUCKING KNOW IT’s RIDICULOUS and can take a joke. We spent our whole lives joking each other. We are more open with our feelings. Quit imposing your ‘saving face’ bullshit into comedy. We’ll save you face in polite society, when it’s comedy nothing is off-limits. Good luck trying. Stay angry, no one cares about you, you are unimportant. When you grow up and realize no one cares about you, learn to laugh or just kill yourself, please. So I don’t have to sit here and point out all the errors in stupid peoples thinking.
(1) Killing people is a CRIME. In any country, if you kill someone, you go to jail for that. As far as I know, most parents would discourage their kids from using that word. It is OK to say “kill virus” or “kill a process (on computer)”. Talking about kill people is NOT FUNNY at all. I don’t think you would talk to strangers or your boss that way. Only your best friends may take that kind of “joke”. You may argue that kid’s remark isn’t a threat (especially when he’s only 7 yo), I would agree.
(2) “because WE FUCKING KNOW IT’s RIDICULOUS and can take a joke” — United States doesn’t have enough sense of humor to take the WMD joke, I think. There is a guy on Long Island googled pressure cooker and bomb (separate searches) on computer, the next day FBI came to question him and his wife. There is a guy (I forgot the location) carrying a pressure cooker near a gas station, someone immediately called 911 just because that guy has a brown skin. No sense of humor. Not even common sense.
(3) Many things in United States have been dumbed down, including JOKE. Imagine you are stand-up comedian. If you tell the audience, “I want to kill myself” in a funny context, maybe most of them will laugh. But if you say “I want to kill all of you”, I don’t believe anyone of them will laugh. It is ONE thing to joke with close friends, it is ANOTHER thing to say kill a good number of people you’ve never met. It is tasteless and stupid. Not a good joke by any standard except the American one.
(4) “…..Are you one of the 2 million Chinese censors? Give me a break….” What kind of censor would use a real name to make comment?? Communist Party must forgot to provide necessary training for recruits.
(5) Example: A journalism professor was placed on indefinite leave for sending anti-NRA tweet. You really believe this old chubby professor (!) would kill someone?? No, I don’t think he will. It is just a bad joke, empty threat, ridiculous comment. Yet his superintendent didn’t laughed it off.
(6) Example: A man was arrested for sending rape and death threat on twitter to the woman who persuaded Bank of England to put Jane Austen on new bank notes
It’s true no one cares about the feeling of Chinese people because they never complain (and if we do complain, we will be accused of being humorless).
But if you are accustomed to being foul-mouthed, then one day police may come. Bad behavior hurts the offender as well.
just Curious, What if Jimmy kimmel say: let’s kill all the whites or let’s kill all the jews???
I am a Chinese American. I did not appreciate the comment when I heard it. However I understand that it is a satire. It is a bad joke to me. I also do not support the petition which I do not understand how could be done. If the White House has the authority to shut up ABC, it would be censorship.
However, this incident is a reflection of a much bigger issue of our culture. If we have a problem, the solution is to kill. Don’t like other students in your school? Shoot them. Don’t like your teacher? Kill him/her. If we keep watching (or even encouraging) this line of thinking gaining popularity among our children, and even find it is funny, then you never know, we might become Nazi someday.
I am chinese, and my daughter is American. my parents moved to the us when I was about 4. so I grew up in America and am a citizen. I have never had a problem here in America with racism, but when I went back to China (vist and live with my yipoa for 3 months) people there were very rude to me because I was from American. they could tell because of my accent. I remember this one man calling me a fat American slut…. and that I was not worth looking T. its been 13 years and I will never go back.
What happened to you is probably an one-off incident. There are bad people everywhere. You could find a much better example to prove your point, which is the fact that many, if not most, Chinese cheered and applauded for 911 attack. But if you look at it in a larger context, you think differently. China and United States have never been allies. Most of the time, those two countries are enemies. The US bombing of Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 and the collision between two jets above Hainan in 2001 only made things worse. No doubt the Communist government Propaganda add fuel to the fire. But facts are facts and thus Chinese people’s resentment is not completely baseless.
I know you want us to believe that the United States is a harmonious paradise, everyone loves everyone else and racism is almost intangible. But that’s not what I witnessed. I have seen a group of black kids beat a white kid almost to death for NO REASON in front of my apartment. I read a lot about the George Zimmerman Trial. I’ve met strangers (Americans) fling racial slur on me. There are so many examples to counter your own misfortune. What should we believe?
Little dicked orientals are trying so hard to compensate for their shame at the American’s expense. Let’s kill them all….
Let me just clear up a couple of your many misconceptions, Kublai. first, if you think that we feel anything even remotely similar to shame, you could not have been more mistaken; what we feel is indignation. We are not seeking to harm America, nor are we trying to use Americans to “compensate”-we are merely trying to recall the ethics and political correct mindsets that have always governed America.
Before anyone else hates on Kublai, I’d suggest to not even bother. Save your energy for something more meaningful, because this kid ain’t even worth your attention. His grammar and his foul language are only bringing more shame upon both himself and the reputation of America, so just let his words speak for themselves.
You tried too hard at trolling.
I don’t find the kid’s remarks offensive or even inappropriate. What I do find offensive is the following. (1) Recently the Communist government of China published a map showing how their nuclear weapons could wipe out much of the USA (2) The Communists still run a one-party dictatorship where people are deprived of their human rights (3) There are documented cases of Chinese agents murdering American workers in Asia who refuse to turn over trade secrets (4) The Chinese have no respect for American patent or copyright laws (5) The Chinese in general have a history of barbaric cruelty (6) China thinks of itself as a great civilization, yet until it was forcibly opened up to modernity by the Western powers China was a non-entity, as was Japan. The so-called high Asian IQ apparently was genetically dormant for about 2400 years, while my white European people were developing science, technology, democracy, human rights, and basically everything else that makes life worth living today. (7) What I find most offensive is that the Chinese are now so arrogant that they think they can dictate what an American boy should say on American TV. (8) Correction to (7): what I find absolutely the most offensive is that Truman and Eisenhower allowed Russia and China to develop nuclear weapons. If I had been president, I would have ordered the destruction of the Russian and Chinese military after their very first atomic explosions. Oh, and speaking as a true America, China can go f**k itself.
Lee,
I understand your emotions, and some of what you say may be true, but some of your attacks are not justified.
(1) Although it may be true that China possesses weapon of mass destruction, it really shouldn’t be offensive to anyone; the USA has a collection of those, too.
(2) It is true that China is still technically run by a one-party dictatorship, but you are mistaken to say that they are deprived of their human rights. Economically, their markets are transforming into the same capitalist system that dominates the USA, and the only deprivation of human rights is their censorship, which, I agree, is a problem. However, all countries are dynamic and subject to improvement.
(3/4/5) I can see where you are coming from, and I agree that those are mistakes, but I urge to stop comparing the strengths of America with the weaknesses of China; if you viewed things in a more realistic lens, you would realize that mistakes have been made on both sides. After all, America has had its fair share of slavery.
(6) I agree that there was a lull in Chinese scientific and social development, and I agree that the Europeans that era of history. However, you must not forget that the Chinese invented the paper that the Europeans used to document their discoveries. Once again, I’m not biased in favor of the Chinese; I just seek to counter-balance the one-sided claims you made.
(7) You are mistaken in thinking that we want to dictate what a little boy says on TV; he is not the one the protesters are mad at; it is the statement that came out of Kimmel’s mouth: “Should we allow the Chinese to live.” They think that, especially coming out of an adult’s mouth, that statement is taking it a bit too far.
(8) This is in response to your hope to exterminate Communist powers. I believe that you are making a grave mistake in representing the USA, which you have praised so far. First, you must realize that the USA is as magnificent as it is now partially due to the financial backing they received from borrowing from other nations. It is their responsibility to return this favor; it has always been in the world of politics. Exterminating countries that America owes debt to would be like assassinating the person who lent you money to build the greatest company in the country.
P.S. It seems I became a bit emotional during my last point. So let me rephrase, with all due apology, and with correct spelling. As a true American (not a true America), who sees the Chinese for what they are, I can only hope that the day will come when we can annihilate the Chinese military so that they are of no more significance than a dead grasshopper. But this is not a racist hope. I wish exactly the same for Russia and for every other country that in any way threatens the safety of America and the free world. I grew up under the constant threat of nuclear attack by these Communist scum. But at least our own nuclear arsenal kept them at bay. But now these yellow bastards are stealing our technology and our jobs and buying up America. To hell with them all. I say renounce our debt to China. Instead of paying interest on our so-called debt to the Communists, let’s invest the money in education American-born kids, while beefing up our weaponry and creating a better anti-missile shield. Have a nice day.
What exactly is this entity called “the Chinese” that you’re going on about? Is it all the people born in China? Is it individuals who have spent a significant time growing up there? Is it someone who have not, but identifies with China either ethnically or culturally?
What is a “true American”?
You may or may not be a racist but you are a bigot. In your mind there is nothing but a bunch of baskets and pigeonholes to put people in. It doesn’t matter if you know any of them or any diversity that may be present in the term “Chinese”.
I am not a Communist. I am an ethnic Chinese. I grew up in America and am an American. How do you explain that? I don’t think you can, because to you, all Chinese are a bunch of Communists that live and die in China.
People like YOU threaten the free world.
I agree with the author “huh”…by taking the liberty to destroy the military of one nation and to bomb another, you’re pretty much becoming the dictator you say you despise. It would be better to stop spewing these messages of hate, because although you attempt to make yourself seem impartial with the phrase: “I don’t hate anyone”, you’re not fooling anyone.
The protestors are trying to get ABC to address their political incorrectness, yet you have responded by vehemently attacking the mistakes China has made in the past. Not only are your comments irrelevant, unnecessary, and blatantly incorrect, they are coming back to bite you, along with the reputation of America, in the ass. And unless I have misinterpreted something, that is the last thing you want to happen.
Oh, just one last thought, a question actually for all those high-IQ Chinese. Why are the products you sell here such crap? Don’t you have any pride of workmanship at all? I thank God every day I was not born Chinese. I can understand why the very first anti-immigrant act passed in the USA was the act to exclude Chinese. Too bad we repealed it. That’s it. I hope you enjoyed my posts. I’m going to unbookmark this site and not return, because the only thing of value here are posts like mine. I really don’t care what some arrogant Chinaman thinks about the USA. We really should put you all in your place. Oh, one last thing. I know I type too fast and don’t spell check. My fault. But before you get snot-nosed about it, you apparently don’t understand that the correct phrase is “fill out the form” not “fill the form.” Didn’t your Communist education teach you that? (It’s not that I hate Communists; in fact I don’t hate anyone. It’s just that I recognize they are my mortal enemies, just like a deadly snake. So I am prepared to respond in the appropriate manner.)
Why do you buy cheap crap?
Do I have to explain why when you don’t put a lot of costs INTO a product (e.g. materials AND WAGES) you don’t get much OUT of it?
Are you stupid?