You might remember that, right after the tragic crash of Asiana Flight 214, San Francisco TV station KTVU identified a series of mindblowingly racist names, on air, as the pilots. We’re reminding you because KTVU is using copyright laws to try to remove the clip from the Internet. And you’re not going to believe their excuse for doing it.
To be fair, the names weren’t entirely their fault: Some idiot intern at the NTSB thought it would be funny to have names like Ho Lee Fuk and Bing Ding Ow on the air. Yes, KTVU should have looked at that, and maybe asked a Chinese person “Does this seem fishy to you?” But they did technically do their jobs, even if they can’t completely pass that buck. I mean, THIS MADE IT ON THE AIR…
At the same time, though, KTVU is being just a wee bit disingenuous with their claims about why they’re taking these clips down. Namely because it would be, like, totally offensive to the Asian community to allow KTVU’s egregious screwup to stay on the Internet.
“The accidental mistake we made was insensitive and offensive. By now, most people have seen it. At this point, continuing to show the video is also insensitive and offensive, especially to the many in our Asian community who were offended. Consistent with our apology, we are carrying through on our responsibility to minimize the thoughtless repetition of the video by others.”
Oh, so laughing at KTVU’s racism is, in of itself, racist. Man, we should let all the stand-up comedians know that laughing at racism is racist! They have no idea!
Sarcasm aside, this shouldn’t be allowed to stand. KTVU couldn’t care less about the “Asian community”; that was amply illustrated by the clips they’re trying to take down. This is about their ego and it’s layering tastelessness on top of tastelessness to try and pretend they’re doing it in the name of “sensitivity.”
Just take your lumps, guys. And instead of putting all this effort into trying to cover up something that can’t be erased, maybe consider hiring a smarter fact checker.