Gedde Watanabe Says He Didn’t Find His ‘Sixteen Candles’ Role Long Duk Dong Offensive at the Time

19 comments

1. Neither did anyone else at that time, I bet he has more opinions on his pay for that role.

2. Nothing new …. something something “product of its time” …. “wasn’t considered offensive at the time” … “couldn’t be made today”

3. I have a 27 yo daughter with whom I share an affinity for both anime and film. For about the first decade that I was introducing her to movies I thought she would enjoy. The older she got, the more we watched the oldies to her disapproval.

   You forget a lot of this shit. I think that’s what kids are for.

   Go back and watch Roger Moore’s Bond film “Live and Let Die”. After the first half hour she looked at me and said “damn, you guys were racist af”. That was all she had to say. The rest of the time, she’d just slowly look over and shake her head as if to say wow, so sad.

   She’s right. She made me try harder.

4. I shit you all not. My stoner father almost named me Long Duk Dong

5. “After Sixteen Candles, his career blew up and his life changed, and he went on to act in movies like Volunteers and Gung Ho. ‘The ’80s were a wild ride!’ he says with a laugh.”

   Tell me you’ve done cocaine without telling me you’ve done cocaine.

6. “No more yanky my wanky. The Donger needs food!”

7. Because it wasn’t then, and it isn’t now.

8. Honestly Long Duk Dong is the only sympathetic character in a John Hughs film. Pretty great year abroad too.

9. No one did. It was just funny when we saw it it then. No one gave it a second thought.

10. The offensiveness was somewhat mitigated by the fact that the Donger could party. Dude was the hero of that movie.

11. Silly minority, let the white people decide for you now!

12. I liked him better in UHF as the host on Wheel of Fish.

13. Well considering homophobia was literally the entire premise for many 90’s/early 00’s comedies we’re gonna see things differently in the future. But just be glad modern sensibilities tries more for equity and empathy more than the previous generations.

14. Dong is the fucking man!

15. It’s still not offensive. Funny as hell.

16. The younger you are, the more offended your potential.

17. Yeah well……an entire generation of Asian American kids grew up being mocked by kids quoting him in that movie.

    So whatever he felt at the time, the result was really terrible for a lot of Asians.

18. “Dong! Where is my automobile”?

19. I’m going to go out on a limb here and a lot of things people do in their teens and twenties doesn’t seem offensive at the time, but…