Psy Called Racial Slurs Post AMAs On Twitter

My last two blogs covered how ignoring Asians is no longer an option given the changing landscape of the world economy and the socioeconomic rise of Asians in America and back East. The Far East. Unfortunately, there are those individuals filled with hate who make themselves feel better by letting the world know that they don't like "chinks" and wish for us to "go back to Asia". At least that's what these Twitter users said after Psy's performance on the American Music Awards courtesy of Public Shaming's tumblr.

Now I haven't been completely onboard with the K-Popstar's claim to fame, but that's not to say I won't give him props for his accomplishments. I respect him as an artist and think he does have real talent. It took Justin Bieber 4 years to amass 800 million views on YouTube whereas Psy has almost achieved the same view count in about 4 months. That's pretty impressive.

I get that Psy is not American and he was singing a song that wasn't in English which may have made some folks feel alienated, however he did close the show with MC Hammer who is 100% American. This duet is a reflection of America's changing cultural landscape in that we're becoming more of a melting pot. Dude, we have a Black president! But what also pisses me off is the fact that countries all over the Asia-Pacific have been open arms embracing American music for nearly a century. Korea especially. There's not a single night club you can go into without listening to American music and its been that way for generations. It's like what Swizz Beats said when he referred to Big Bang's release of Blue. America never rolls out the red carpet for Asian artists, and yet when American artists go overseas to Asia, countries over in the region show them all kinds of love rolling out the red carpet, inviting them on talk shows, having them perform, etc. etc. I'm glad to see we're moving forward.

Why can't these Tweeters above embrace Asian artists the same way? I grew up feeling alienated many times simply because I wasn't white. It made me feel like a permanent outsider hearing these kinds of hateful remarks and it pains me to see this sentiment is still pervasive in America today. Its 2012!!

Look, if you want to get really anal about it, none of Scooter Braun's artists' are American proper. One Direction gets plenty of mainstream airplay and they're a British boy band. Yes, they do sing in English, but that doesn't make them anymore American than Psy. And if we're strictly speaking of the United States of America, well both Justin Bieber and Carly Jae Repsen are not US Citizens so maybe they shouldn't be at the AMAs either. And while I'm at it, maybe we shouldn't have Shakira on any of our American TV shows too since, you know, she's from Latin America which isn't America proper.

Perhaps Psy should've sang an English version of Gangnam Style at the AMAs? Maybe, but it doesn't make sense. Gangnam Style is about a district in Seoul, Korea not America and there's really no American city center that parallels the same shallow and arrogant 'tudes as that particular geographic location. Psy created this song for his home country, not the American market. It just so happens Psy stumbled onto fame when the rest of the world fell in love with its high-energy, infectious beat. Don't blame Psy or the AMAs.

Another surprising tidbit. Most of the anti-Psy tweets came from women of the caucasian variety. Granted, this is only a sample of the entire universe of tweets, negative and positive, but never would I have expected that much of a backlash to having Psy on the AMAs. In fact, after scouring the Twitter feeds, I see more guys all around giving Psy props! Well look at it this way. If President Obama got all kinds of flack on Twitter for being Black and re-elected, then no doubt that the same bunch will probably post a racial slur about Psy.

Moving on...