Heavily-illustrated model Levy Tran (featured at the old site here) recently tweeted an apology after the above music video she appeared in received a strong backlash due to the song’s lyrics.
Obviously intended to be humorous, “Asian Girlz” by the Los Angeles-based rock band Day Above Ground, is full of racially-stereotyped lyrics that many listeners have found to be extremely offensive. “I love your sticky rice,” “Ooh, your slanted eyes,” and “Your momma’s so pretty, best nails in the city” are some of the milder examples.
At their Youtube channel, where they have the video posted, Day Above Ground stated that the song “was not written with any malicious, hateful, or hurtful intent.” Tran, after geting wind of the negative publicity the video has been receiving (as well as herself, for appearing in it), tweeted:
“I sincerely apologize to all who feels that I set Asian women back 50 yrs. I know I lost respect from a lot of ppl. It wasn’t my intention”
She’s also made further apologetic comments regarding the video, that you can see at her Twitter.
Looks like Levy can now join actress Lisa Chan (who appeared last year in a political campaign ad as a Chinese girl thanking a US senator in mock broken English, for her spending) in the ”I should have had better foresight” file. Unless, of course, they subscribe to the old Hollywood publicist’s adage that any press is good press.
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I’m with you guys. Forget the racist lyrics for one second. The song just flat out sucks. The only reason it gets any attention is because of these lyrics (and the gorgeous Ms. Tran). I guess when you have zero talent you use whatever you can to attract some attention (the band, not Levy).
And I also have to agree with Doc regarding Tran’s judgement. She either had no taste, no brains and/or just plain bad judgement. And that is not just based on her acting in this video. Keep in mind she didn’t write the lyrics–it’s just an acting gig. A gig she should have refused, but sometimes a job is a job. I think she should have refused the gig simply because the song is so freaking terrible.
Destroying her beauty with a disturbing amount of ink is worse that her acting in the video, IMO. Hey I’m not anti-tat–but this is just plain stupid. She is pretty enough to get great gigs without them.
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GOLLY!!! After reading the lyrics, I am offended. It is disrespectful towards Asian women. Damn stereotypes. Like for real, those guys are idiots for making a song about it. Ahhhhhh. Poor Levy. I don’t know why she agrees to appear on the video. Could be just for the money or publicity.
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The lyrics for those who missed it:
Wooo!
[Chorus]
Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
Yes, my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl
Source: LYBIO.net[Verse 1]
I love your sticky rice (love it)
Butt fucking all night
Korean barbecue
Bitch I love you
I love your creamy yellow thighs
Ooh you’re slanted eyes
It’s the Year of the Dragon
Ninja pussy I’m stabbin’[Chorus]
Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
Yes, my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl[Verse 2]
Superstitious feng shui shit (what)
Now lay your hair by the toilet
I’ve got your green tea boba
So put your head on my shoulder
Huh! Your momma’s so pretty
Best nails in the city
Pushing your daddy’s Mercedes
Girl you drive me crazy[Chorus]
Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
Yes, my Asian – You’re my Asian girl[Bridge]
New Year’s in February (February?)
That’s fine with me (I guess)
Yeah, shark soup (What? Fuck it, we’ll eat it)
Oh, tradition, tradition, tradition, yeah yeah
Baby, cause you’re my Asian girl
You’re legally (best kind)
So baby marry me
Come on sit on my lap (right here baby)
Or we’ll send you back
And you age so well
I can barely tell
17 or 23?
Baby doesn’t matter to me[Chorus]
Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
Yes, my Asian girl yeah, You’re my Asian girlLet ‘em know:
Alright![Outro]
Arcadia
J-Town
Alhambra
K-Town
Temple City
Don’t forget Chinatown
Get down
Happy endings all over
Bruce Lee
Toyota
Spicy tuny
Sashimi (yeah)
Tasty Garden
Fried Lice
Sailor Moon
Wonton soup
Spring roll
Tibet
Foot rub rub a down down down
Fa ra ra ra ra ra ra pa ra ra ra
Woooo!
Tofu
All over you all over me
Yeah
Love you wong
All the Asian girls
We love you
Keep smiling -
That “band” is a joke. Awful.
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“They are just a poor man’s Linken Park.” Now that’s funny–and true. What makes it funny is that Linken Park is horrible to begin with.
I’m convinced this was done intentionally, Perhaps as a parody of sorts, but most certainly as a way to draw some attention to themselves.
Doc, that Christina Wong parody was great. Thanks for the link.
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This was absolutely deplorable. She can do whatever she wants with her body, but she was a face for young Asian-Americans in the entertainment industry that was slowly pulling in success. I see her taking this gig as not only a lack of judgement but as a lack of intelligence. Didn’t she give a thought about how her parents would feel? Or at least, how young Asian women like herself would feel being represented in such a condescending, sexual way? This just fetishizes Asian-American women, and instead of letting them blend into the culture as people, this materializes them as an object.
Beauty fades, along with tattoos. The thing that would take the longest to fade was her brain, but looks like she didn’t have one to start off with.
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Attention is definitely one thing, but I am actually not against tattoos at all. I have a close to full-back tattoo, and to an extent it was for attention, almost like a boob job, but I truly appreciate the artwork that was placed on me.
The thing is, as a working professional, I still understand that it is not a highly accepted social norm and people do still frown upon them, so I decided to place it in an area where I could easily cover it up. Party in the back, business in the front. Always.
Looking at the situation now, maybe the reason why I felt like this was absolutely unforgivable was because she not only further enforces a negative light on Asian-American women stereotypes but also on people who have tattoos as a hobby or for their appreciation of something new that they can control on their bodies. I can’t help but to think that this is another reason why tattoos are still so looked down upon, much more than a boob job these days. Actually I shouldn’t have said boob job, that’s incomparable.
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My guess is that maybe she didn’t fully take a listen to the song, they probably just told her it was a chance to be in a “rock video” and “dedication to asian girls”… which alot of models would have jumped for.
Her tats really had nothing to do with the video, but they used her has she is already a popular internet name that could easily get them video views as her name is in the title. Im not big into tats , but she is still a cutie (yeah i also believe she could have still been popular without the tats).
Im sure she really had no clue how offensive it was until after seeing it all edited together.
Would be nice if us Asian men will get the sex symbol status in America, instead of the typical hollywood stereotype like in The Hangover (I cant stand that asian guy) or the typical asian woman/white male couple yet hardly any asian male couples in commercials, media etc.
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