Streamers mock Korean TikToker with racist ‘slant eye’ gesture, taunts
By Ryan General
A Los Angeles-based Korean streamer was subjected to racist taunts and ridicule after trying to interact with two American women during an online livestream.
The content creator, who goes by Gemini Jury on her social media accounts, took to TikTok on Saturday to share a video clip of the interaction.
In the video, the Korean woman is seen initiating a conversation with the young women in Spanish but was immediately told to speak in English. When she responds that she can speak “a little bit” of English, one of the women went on to ask why she joined their stream.
When she was unable to quickly answer the question, the women start mocking her and indicate that they no longer want to continue the livestream. Gemini Jury then responds with a polite “annyeong” (informal goodbye in Korean) before the women continued berating her.
The girl in a black top dismisses her with the comment, “Get your bunny ears out of here.”
At one point, the girl in the striped top does the slant eye gesture by pulling up the corners of her eyes.
The gesture is considered offensive to Asians because it perpetuates harmful stereotypes and mocks the physical features of East Asians, who typically have epicanthic folds. This action is also derogatory as it reduces individuals to racial caricatures.
Gemini Jury remained calm during the entire exchange and asks her viewers, “Are some of you recording this?”
The girl wearing stripes responds, “I would hope so.”
Gemini Jury then asks them, “You wanna go viral, right?”
“No, we don’t care about all that,” says the other streamer. After noticing that Gemini Jury has adopted a more neutral English accent, the girl in the back asks, “Where’s the accent?”
Gemini Jury chooses to remain silent, noting in her text overlay, “Do I owe them an accent?”
When the girl in the striped top asks if Gemini Jury has “a problem,” she replies in Korean that she does not.
The girls then went on to mock her language by speaking in gibberish.
Many consider speaking in gibberish while mimicking Asian accents a form of disrespect, as it implies that the languages spoken by Asians are unintelligible or meaningless.
Gemini Jury’s post has since been viewed over 6.3 million times.
She noted in the caption that she has been traveling since she was 4 years old and has “learned to respect culture.”
According to the streamer, she shared the clip to help people “realize what racism to Asian people looks like.”
Commenters came to Gemini Jury’s defense, with many condemning the actions of the American girls.
“I’m so sorry you went through this,” a commenter wrote. “I hope you don’t feel too bad. You’re so beautiful. I hope the internet can take those girls down, no bullying in 2023.”
“I can’t believe that racism is still part of our lives today,” another wrote.
“They are actually embarrassing themselves,” noted a commenter. “They are making themselves look stupid.”
Some commenters claimed that the women behind the racist attack were already identified and some of their social media accounts have already been taken down.
NextShark has reached out to Gemini Jury for comment.
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