Protest Against Fox Correspondent Accused of Racism for Chinatown Interviews



Elected officials and activists staged a protest outside the Manhattan headquarters of Fox News on Thursday over a segment in which a correspondent conducted a series of mocking interviews of Asian-Americans in New York City’s Chinatown that critics said trafficked in stereotypes and veered into racism.

The correspondent, Jesse Watters, who has been accused of stalking and harassment for his ambush-style interviews on the street, expressed “regret” late Wednesday after provoking a storm of criticism for the segment that was broadcast on Monday.

Mayor Bill de Blasio called the segment “vile.” And Councilman Peter Koo said in a statement: “Passing off this blatantly racist television segment as ‘gentle fun’ not only validates racist stereotypes, it encourages them. The entire segment smacks of willful ignorance by buying into the perpetual foreigner syndrome.

“How is it, that in New York City in 2016, this is still O.K.? Short answer: It’s not, and it is unfortunate that Fox News needs to be reminded of that.”

Fox broadcast the interviews as part of “Watters’ World,” a recurring segment on “The O’Reilly Factor,” the network’s top-rated show. The host, Bill O’Reilly, introduced the piece by saying it had been inspired by how frequently China was mentioned during the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump.

But the nearly five-minute video was interspersed with references to martial arts and scenes of Mr. Watters getting a foot massage, playing with nunchucks and asking loaded questions that some residents appeared not to understand or couldn’t answer. Clips from well-known movies were sprinkled throughout the segment, including “The Karate Kid” and “Chinatown.”

Mr. Watters begins the piece with an instrumental version of the Carl Douglas song “Kung Fu Fighting” playing softly in the background. He asks two young women, “Am I supposed to bow to say hello?” He asks a street vendor if his wares were stolen: “I like these watches — are they hot?”

When he asks some passers-by their opinion of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump, the two men answer in accented English, and their answers are displayed in subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

“Trump has been beating up on China; how does that make you feel?” he asks an older woman. He peppers others with questions like “Is it the year of the dragon ... rabbit?” “Is everything made in China now?” “Do they call Chinese food in China just food?”

And at one point, when another young woman says she really doesn’t want to vote for Mr. Trump so her choice was Mrs. Clinton, he opines, “So China can keep ripping us off.”

The segment provoked an uproar among social media users, and Asian-American groups denounced it. The Asian-American Journalists Association said it was “outraged and shocked” and demanded an apology from the network.

“We should be far beyond tired, racist stereotypes and targeting an ethnic group for humiliation and objectification on the basis of their race,” the group said in a statement. “Sadly, Fox News proves it has a long way to go in reporting on communities of color in a respectful and fair manner.”

The influential blog Angry Asian Man, founded by Phil Yu, a Korean-American, described the segment in a post as “a new low, even for Fox News.”

“Jesse Watters went for a holy-crap-that’s-so-racist-man-on-the-street approach,” the post said.

State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, whose district includes Chinatown, condemned the segment for “stereotyping, mockery and a thinly veiled disdain for immigrants.”