That ish dumb. Yesterday Roots drummer Questlove apologized for comments on his personal Instagram that many found offensive towards Asians.
The musician, currently on tour in Japan, made a joke referring to the stereotypical interchanging of “L” and “R” consonant sounds. Padma Lakshmi joined in on the joke via a comment on Instagram.
Yesterday, in true Questlove fashion, he shared his thoughts on the controversy via a public post on Facebook.
“[U]nfortunately, i’ve offended my asian brothers & sisters with an IG post which i made during my recent tour of japan. in that post, i likened a japanese department store employee’s vocal intonation to that of a (church) deacon speaking in tongues. clearly, i didn’t intend to offend anyone (asian or otherwise), clearly, i *thought* that comparison was funny-cute
… and clearly i thought wrong.
in hindsight, it’s easy to see how my post was yet another example of the ugly, american flipping yet another ugly/racially/culturally insensitive script. so, let me make this abundantly clear….
THE ISH THAT I SAID WAS DUMB (PERIOD).
Good for you, Questlove. Your move, Lakshmi. [Facebook]
RDB Gets Fast & Furious. Remember the new track “Daddy Da Cash” from Punjabi hip-hop group RDB (Rhythym Dhol Bass) featuring a verse from rapper T-Pain? The two musical collaborators are going to appear in Fast & Furious 7. Cannot. Wait.
T-Pain, who has collaborated with Ludacris, will be making his film debut in the film and he specifically asked for RDB to be included. The 28 year-old grammy winning singer/songwriter, real name Faheem Rasheed Najm, asked for his friends to be used in order to bring a desi element to the movie. [Guardian Express]
#BollywoodTaughtUs. What has Bollywood taught us? Twitter tells you, via a fun hashtag. [Twitter] [h/t @shefalikulkarni]
#BollywoodTaughtUs that a 40 year old hero can look like a college student pic.twitter.com/lm3zCckARx
— Sarah Ashraf (@Sarah_Ash89) December 26, 2013
#BollywoodTaughtUs that if your name isn't Raj or Rahul, you're probably a villain.
— Rega Jha (@regajha) December 26, 2013
#BollywoodTaughtUs that actresses can run faster than a train #DDLJ pic.twitter.com/RtFvontFxD
— Maria (@maria_ahmad16) December 26, 2013
#BollywoodTaughtUs That if you were to break into a random song and dance in the middle of nowhere, people will know your dance steps.
— Agratha Dinakaran (@Agratha) December 26, 2013
#BollywoodTaughtUs that there are no dark-skinned Indian women.
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) December 26, 2013
#BollywoodTaughtUs you look like this when you sleep. pic.twitter.com/JNdm4I2Kiw
— Yashfa (@BiryaniWoman) December 26, 2013
#BollywoodTaughtUs that 50 year old men and 20 year old women can regularly fall in love and NO ONE QUESTIONS IT.
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) December 26, 2013
Kishwer Vikaas is a co-founder and editor of The Aerogram. Follow her on Twitter at @phillygrrl or email her at editors@theaerogram.com.