‘Racist Disfiguration’: Andrew and Evelyn Yang Tear Into NY Daily News for ‘Tourist’ Cartoon (UPDATED)

Josh FeldmanMay 25th, 2021, 2:32 pm
 

Evelyn Yang, wife of Andrew Yang, called out the New York Daily News for a cartoon mocking the New York mayoral candidate’s recent interview.

In an interview over the weekend, Ziwe asked Yang what his favorite subway station is. He said, “It’s my stop so Times Square.”

Yang was mocked online for that answer, and the New York Daily News ran a cartoon from Bill Bramhall depicting him walking out of the subway stop next to a tourist shop.

Evelyn Yang took to Twitter Tuesday to call out “this racist disfiguration.”

Yang shared a tweet from AAPI Victory Alliance and slammed the Daily News, saying, “I can’t believe my eyes. To publish this racist disfiguration of @AndrewYang as a tourist, in NYC where I was born, where Andrew has lived for 25 years, where our boys were born, where 16% of us are Asian and anti-Asian hate is up 900%.”

During a campaign press conference Tuesday morning, she said, “Any time anyone implies that we are not New Yorkers, that we are not from here, that we don’t belong here, that we should go back to where we came from, it is exactly what it sounds like. It’s racism.”

She held up the Daily News cartoon and said it plays into gross and racist stereotypes. “What message does this send to all the Asians that are afraid to go outside?”

“Every time you make a joke about Andrew not being a New Yorker, you are telling Asian Americans that they don’t belong,” Yang added.

The Daily News’ article on the subject includes this defense from editorial page editor Josh Greenman:

“Andrew Yang is a leading contender to be mayor of New York City, and as commentators, his opponents and The News editorial board have recently pointed out, he’s recently revealed there are major gaps in his knowledge of New York City politics and policy. Nor has he ever voted in a mayoral election,” Greenman said. “Bill Bramhall’s cartoon is a comment on that, period, end of story. This is not a racial stereotype or racist caricature.”

Greenman added that the original, online version of the cartoon had been altered for the paper’s print run after concerns were raised about it.

“After Bill tweeted his cartoon yesterday, people reacted badly to how Yang’s eyes were drawn,” he said. “Bill altered the drawing out of sensitivity to those concerns, without changing the concept of the cartoon, which he and we stand by.”

Yang fired back and said the paper is still missing the point:

You can watch her remarks at the press conference above (the relevant part starts at the 4:10 mark).

UPDATE — 4:30 pm ET: The candidate himself posted a lengthy statement Tuesday afternoon saying the cartoon is reminiscent of the racist caricatures of Asians that have “been a part of the American consciousness for a long time.”

“To paint me in the media as a perpetual foreigner to this city is wrong and subtly approves racism at a time when people are being beaten on the street on the basis of who they are,” he writes.

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Josh Feldman - Senior Editor

Josh Feldman is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Email him here: josh@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter: @feldmaniac