Thursday, November 07, 2024

Links - 7th November 2024 (2 - Simu Liu Bubble Tea Meltdown)

6ixBuzzTV on X - "#WATCH: Toronto actor Simu Liu shuts down bubble tea pitch for cultural appropriation."
Kangmin Lee | 이강민 on X - "A Chinese-Canadian claiming a drink that was invented in Taiwan, played a Korean in Kim’s Convenience, and complaining in a Western language, on a Western television program, while wearing Western attire. Your "cultural heritage" sounds a bit… appropriatory doesn’t it?"
When you just hate white people
Simu Liu strikes again! No surprise it's him kicking up a tantrum again

Asian American boba brand finds opportunity after Simu Liu sparks cultural appropriation debate - "The company seemed to imply on the episode that their drink was better than traditional bubble tea and its founders have since apologized. “I would be uplifting a business that is profiting off of something that feels so dear to my cultural heritage,” Liu said during the Oct. 10 episode. He also pointed out there was nothing on their packaging that acknowledged boba's cultural roots in Taiwan. Boba’s origin story actually goes back centuries and can be traced outside of Taiwan, according to Juily Phun, an assistant professor in Asian American Studies at Cal State LA who curated an exhibit on the beverage’s history and impact. The root vegetable cassava, which is used to make tapioca starch, the main ingredient in boba, started in South America. Colonization led to cassava being exported to African nations, Pacific Islands and parts of Asia... Today, boba shops are ubiquitous. Big conglomerates like Starbucks and Jamba Juice have experimented with boba for limited stints. Even then, boba was such a small part of the menu that it wasn't seen as a threat to Asian American boba businesses... Today Twrl drinks, which include flavors like ube (the purple yam commonly associated with Filipino cuisine) and hojicha (Japanese roasted green tea), are in Sprouts supermarkets nationwide, Whole Foods stores in 10 states and on Amazon."
What's so compelling about a product that isn't better than what's already on the market? Left wingers think white people aren't allowed to improve non-white things
Clearly, all the bubble tea shops that never mention Taiwan need to be closed down
It seems Asian Americans deserve to have a monopoly on the bubble tea business in the US and if they don't, it's racist
How dare Twrl culturally appropriate Filipino ube!

'Shang Chi' Actor Simu Liu Roasted After He Accused Bobba Bubble Tea Owners Of "Cultural Appropriation" On Canadian Reality Show Dragon's Den - "Liu also posted to X, “i truly do not care what you spend your money on. buy boba, or don’t, or buy bottled mass produced boba that feels weirdly appropriated, or don’t. it literally does not matter to me. all i ask… is that you not empty your life savings into altcoins and NFTs.”...   X user 300mirrors also noted, “You seemed to care a whole lot in that video while you were embarrassing those people who were so proud of their product.”
White people are not allowed to sell bubble tea
People also got offended that the entrepreneurs said normal bubble tea was unhealthy. I guess Singapore needs to be cancelled for saying that it is, since it contains so much sugar and palm oil

Libby Emmons on X - "And just like that, Manjit Minhas, once super excited about backing alcoholic bubble tea for distribution into the US, pulled her support, spoke about cultural differences, and begged people to stop threatening her online because it's like really hurting her feelings, you guys."

Scratch Point on X - "It's difficult to have sympathy for people who allow themselves to be walked all over.   This was not a "learning opportunity" to welcome, it was a celebrity using his influence to crush an up-and-coming business by claiming they were stealing his culture despite already working with a distributor in Taiwan. Which, by the way, shouldn't even be necessary.   It's just funny to see an Asian trying to guard what he perceives to be his culture despite being completely Westernized. If that's how he really feels, stop starring in Western media, stop playing Korean roles while being Chinese, stop speaking English, wearing Western clothing, etc.   You don't get to keep "culture" to yourself while willingly partaking in & benefitting from someone else's culture.  These people need to stop apologizing to eternal victims. Double-down & tell them their feelings on the matter are irrelevant. They need to be firmly told "no" for once in their coddled lives."

Nina Infinity on X - "Aren't you Chinese? Didn't you play a Korean dude in Kim's Convenience? Some, like you, might call that cultural appropriation. 🤔 But hey, when it benefits you, who cares. Right?"

Simu Liu’s unhinged boba tea meltdown sinks small business - "Quebec City entrepreneurs Sebastian Fiset and Jessica Frenette, owners of Bobba—a new health-centric bubble tea company—appeared on the show in hopes of landing a financial investment for their young startup. But after being accused of cultural appropriation by guest judge and C-list Marvel film actor Simu Liu, they’ve more recently found themselves, and their company, sinking in hot water. During the now infamous television appearance, the innocent duo showcased their innovative company, which takes traditional unhealthy asian bubble tea and transforms it into a much healthier and just as delicious alternative... While other fellow ‘Dragon’ investors appeared visibly uncomfortable by the Chinese Karen’s unhinged tantrum directed at the French-Canadian entrepreneurs, Liu continued to rant... Liu, who is not from Taiwan, is a well-known bit part actor on unfunny Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience, a show which often mocks and reinforces stereotypes about people of asian descent. He has also been featured as a token asian actor walk-on role in Barbie, but has never really garnered the star power to match his white hot emotions.  Following the episode, Liu’s weak fanbase, made up of mostly woke, liberal scumbags, rallied to the so-called actor’s defense and began attacking Bobba with boycotts and even death threats (surprise, surprise—ed). The relentless attacks by the self-described inclusive left forced Bobba to issue an unnecessary apology... Despite Liu’s tenuous idea that the drink is a wholly Taiwanese intellectual property, the Bobba founders sourced their ingredients in Taiwan and went out of their way to consult with a Taiwanese boba guru who had blessed their product prior to appearing on the show.  “I want to be a part of bringing boba to the masses, but not like this,” Liu whined during the broadcast, much to the horror of the regular Dragons who take a much more respectful approach to contestants...   Days after when Liu reluctantly tried to call for calm among his faithful following of mask wearing grifters, the damage had already been done to poor Bobba. The founders were receiving death threats and other investors had backed out of the company after the onslaught of negative woke-faux outrage. The entire bubble brouhaha has left the small business drowning in debt. Celebrities, who like Liu, are also not Taiwanese, including The Rock, Johnny Depp, Lucy Lu, Tom Cruise and John Cho all came out in favor of their fellow Hollywood huckster, sucking and blowing at the same time.  Out-of-touch Calgary-based Chinese Canadian food writer and equity consultant (for real?—ed) Carmen Cheng of the government funded CBC says she grew up drinking bubble tea...   In addition to being a race baiting culture hustler, Simu Liu is owner of the sparkling water company Sanzo. Sparkling water, invented and popularized in Europe, has evolved under Liu’s ownership of the company having recently launched a line of ‘asian-inspired’ flavors."

Meme - Ziyupr: "Shot I Chaser"
"I'm Taiwanese and I love to see non-Taiwanese take an interest in our culture. I certainly won't cry about cultural appropriation. One thing I don't love: A Canadian-Chinese actor trying to represent Taiwanese people!"
*Blocked by Simu Liu*
I guess minority voices don't matter when they go against the left wing agenda. Clearly this Taiwanese is too stupid and ignorant to know that he's a victim of cultural appropriation

In Taiwan, boba tea fans bemused at Canadian ‘cultural appropriation’ spat - "Standing in line at her favourite boba tea shop in Taiwan’s second-biggest city, Lisa Chen was perplexed to hear that her preferred beverage had been embroiled in a headline-grabbing controversy halfway around the world.  After a Montreal-based company pitched a “convenient and healthier” canned version of boba tea on Canada’s version of Dragons’ Den last week, a firestorm ensued... Chen said she did not see the problem with the beverage becoming part of the globalised food landscape with variations that are increasingly detached from its Taiwanese roots.  “It’s great that more people can enjoy boba tea,” she told Al Jazeera.  “In Taiwan, we’re constantly coming up with new kinds of boba tea, so I think it makes sense that people abroad are doing so as well.”  Lin You Ze, who worked at a boba tea shop in Taichung from 2019 to 2022, had a similar reaction when he came across the controversy while scrolling social media.  “I don’t think it’s a big deal that they took boba tea and added their own twist to it,” Lin told Al Jazeera.  “Boba tea can be quite easy to make and a lot of the things you need originally came to Taiwan from somewhere else anyway, so it’s all connected.”  Lin said the focus should be on the quality of the product and not the background of the company’s owners.  “If they made a delicious new boba tea that’s healthier, then that’s good for everyone, right?”  Yang Zou Ming, whose uncle owned a boba tea shop in Taichung, was less impressed with Bobba’s pitch, although he said he did not have a problem with people who aren’t Taiwanese selling the drink.  “Boba tea should be made fresh, and you lose that if you put it in a can and store it for a long time,” he told Al Jazeera.  “But I don’t see a problem with people across the world selling different kinds of boba tea.”...   In Taiwanese media, reaction to the controversy in Canada was muted, while discussions online paid more attention to whether the products were healthier as claimed than questions of identity...   In 2019, a Taiwanese court concluded that since anyone is allowed to make boba tea, the question of who invented it was irrelevant. Clarissa Wei, a Taiwanese-American journalist and the author of a Taiwanese cookbook, Made In Taiwan, said the heated reactions to the Canadian company’s boba products stem from issues of culture and identity among Asian diaspora communities.  “Bubble tea is a very dear symbol to a lot of the diaspora and has become a symbol of what it means to be Asian American and Asian Canadian,” Wei told Al Jazeera.  “In some ways, bubble tea is more important to Asian minorities in Western countries than it is to Taiwanese in Taiwan, who don’t think as much about the meaning or the symbol behind it.”  The Asian diaspora’s connection to boba tea, particularly among certain generations, has been referred to as “bobalife” – named after a 2013 song of the same name."
Basically Asian Americans have no culture, so they seize on bubble tea and are obnoxious about it

Joel Clements | Facebook - "With all the “cultural appropriation” talk regarding the bubble tea pitch on Dragon’s Den, I wonder what impact it will have on all those Chinese run Sushi joints? ‘Cause that’s cultural appropriation too, isn’t it? 😳😂 Not to mention Simu Liu, who is of Chinese heritage, played a Korean character on Lee’s Convenience. Hmmm… #BubbleTea #dragonsden #SimuLiu"

Lulu Cheng Meservey on X - "Insane that Simu Liu would cancel a boba startup for “cultural appropriation.” As a higher ranking Asian (didn’t become a professional actor), I am casting a counterspell and inviting people of every race and creed to partake in Asian culture.
Addendums:
1) Cultural exchange is good.
2) Appreciation is not appropriation.
3) Creating heterogenous new cultures doesn’t take away from existing cultures."
Left wingers like to claim that rights are not like cake - more for one doesn't mean less for another, but they view culture like cake

John Coogan on X - "The “ownership has to be Asian” claim is funny because are we sure that’s where the value accrual is happening? What if the Taiwanese manufacturer has higher margins and takes home more money in total?"
Melissa Chen on X - "This guy is a walking definition of a “boba liberal”"

Kelden Formosa on X - "The origin story of bubble tea 🧋 is really fascinating. It relies completely on the types of cultural appropriation and experimentation that Liu criticizes in this clip. 🇭🇰🇹🇼🇬🇧🇳🇱 Fun, short history here:"
What Makes Bubble Tea Popular ? Interaction between Chinese and British Tea Culture | Francis Academic Press - "During the Dutch colonization of Taiwan (1624-1662), the European way of drinking tea-adding milk and sugar to tea was introduced to Taiwan. It did not become a trend but laid a foundation of the creation of bubble tea. In the middle of the twentieth century, under the influence of Hong Kong-style milk tea, milk tea became popular in Taiwan. Unlike Hong Kong-style milk tea, the making process of bubble tea itself is not cumbersome, so it is easy to realize standardization. Within a short span of 30 years, bubble tea has swept across the world. In 1987, Lin Xiuhui, manager of a Taiwanese dessert shop called Chunshuitang, accidentally threw tapioca balls, known as “powder balls,” into milk tea during a boring business meeting, only to find that they tasted good.[5] Then bubble tea officially came into being. The rich variety of tea, ingredients and fruit stimulates the further development of bubble tea. Oolong tea and green tea can be alternative to black tea, and other ingredients such as taro, grass jelly, sago can also be added to bubble tea. In addition, to make bubble tea take on the international market, businessmen actively learn about local food customs, and create an attractive image of bubble tea with creative and marketing techniques, using local raw materials to upgrade bubble tea from to a beverage without borders. For example, to cater to Americans’ sweet teeth, ice cream, honey and syrup are added to bubble tea in the American market, while the French, who care about the appearance of food, chocolate is used to decorate their bubble tea"

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