Yunioshi, in all his yellowfaced glory
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this character from Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Mr. Yunioshi (played by Mickey Rooney) is what many consider to be the most awful example of racist, yellowface acting in the history of film. A buck-toothed, heavily-accented buffoon, Mr. Yunioshi was the source of a bit of controversy this weekend at the Sacramento “Screen on the Green” free movie night.
Several Asian American activist groups, under the banner of CAPITAL (the Council of Asian Pacific Islanders Together for Advocacy and Leadership), raised hell about the screening, saying that that crazy racist character perpetuated ”offensive, derogatory and hateful racial stereotypes detrimental and destructive to our society.” …You got that right, buddy.
The 87-year old Rooney said, ”Don’t break me up – I wouldn’t offend any person, be they black, Asian or whatever…” Now, as nice as his intentions might be, unfortunately for him, he doesn’t get to choose who is and is not offended by his work. But y’know what? I’m willing to give him a little credit here… It was a very different time back then, so yeah, okay, maybe he really thought what he was doing was all in good fun. Fair enough. He even went so far as to say that if he knew that many people would have been offended, he wouldn’t have done it. Nice.
Well, unfortunately for him, today that shit is just wrong. What’s worse, however, is what Rooney’s wife said.
“It’s terribly sad, and I feel bad for the people taking offense.”
You feel bad? Really? Here’s a suggestion: Don’t. We don’t really need your pity. So what does Mrs. Rooney get offended at? Issues of “animal cruelty, elder cruelty, child neglect.” Okay… I’d agree that those are some offensive and evil things. But then she tops it off with:
“Let’s go after the things that are really important.”
Ah yes, of course. Racism? Not important at all. Racism hasn’t caused anyone any real grief, right? I mean, it’s not like anyone’s gotten hurt from racism? And even if they did, it’s not like anyone got killed because of racism, right? Right?
Ugh.
I shake my fist at you, Mr. Yunioshi. …And a little at you too, Mrs. Rooney. Shame on you.
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