United States: CFWIJ Condemns Steven Crowder's Racist Remarks Against Betty Yu
Location: United States, San Francisco
Date: October 22, 2021
Conservative YouTube personality Steven Crowder targeted KPIX 5 reporter Betty Yu in a video published on Wednesday. The episode began as a commentary on Betty's report on a dispute between city health officials and a restaurant chain regarding COVID protocols, however quickly devolved into deeply racist comments about the journalist herself. The video has rightfully received widespread condemnation from Betty's colleagues and employers alike.
Betty Yu was covering the story regarding a disagreement between San Francisco health officials and In-N-Out burgers over a local COVID safety protocol to check customers’ vaccination status. Crowder referred to the story on his channel and after a few initial comments jumped to making deeply racist remarks about Betty. This incident comes after Betty gained popularity over her thorough coverage of the biases and discrimination faced by journalists belonging to the Asian American community
Watch Betty's video:
Crowder's remarks received condemnation from Betty's employers at KPIX 5 as well as other journalists support groups.
“CBS Television Stations and KPIX 5 fully support our colleague Betty Yu and condemn the horrific, racist comments directed at Betty as well as the other demeaning Asian stereotypes spread during Steven Crowder’s program on Wednesday. We stand in solidarity with Betty, an accomplished journalist and valued member of our CBS family. These hateful and offensive remarks are outrageous and destructive and reaffirm the importance of our work as journalists to shine a light on anti-Asian violence and hate speech when it occurs," said CBS and KPIX 5 representatives in a video statement.
SAG-AFTRA a journalist union for on-air journalists also issued a statement in Betty's support.
"Online hate and dehumanizing rhetoric — in addition to being disgusting and hurtful in its own right — can have a ripple effect, encouraging physical attacks and emboldening like-minded racists. Last month, the FBI reported that hate crimes in America were at the highest level in 12 years, and Asian Americans were one of the most targeted groups," claimed the statement.
"SAG-AFTRA expresses its support for Yu, an award-winning journalist for CBS station KPIX, and denounces the demeaning verbal attacks. Crowder and others with large followings who trade in hate and misinformation would do well to consider the effect of their words on people’s lives," it went on to state.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns Steven Crowder's comments on Betty Yu. This kind of racist rhetoric encourages digital and physical violence towards journalists belonging to minority community. Behaviour like this is not just reprehensible but outright dangerous. An immediate apology must be issued and the content should be removed from Crowder's channel.
Read CFWIJ's complete report on the racist discrimination faced by Asian American journalists and its possible repercussions.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
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