Falling just short of claiming to be victimized by the media, Day Above Ground announced that it is pulling its controversial “Asian Girlz” video from YouTube after widespread complaints that the video is racist and degrading.
The video, posted July 29 on YouTube, stars San Jose-based model Levy Tran, who strips down to lingerie as the band croons about “slanted eyes,” “creamy yellow thighs,” “slanted eyes” “sticky rice” etc.
The band released this statement after the Internet erupted in protest:
This video is intended to be a satirical, provocative, absurd, & even silly work of art. The lyrics, story, and visuals are so completely over-the-top and ridiculous that we thought it’d be impossible to miss the point.
But some very vocal groups, especially the blog, “Angry Asian Man,” attacked it right out of the gate very aggressively. Their fury was soon amplified by the blog/news cycle. Shortly after, the views and craziness began climbing by the second.
Angry Asian Man, to you we say – all’s fair so well done! We salute you. Seriously. No satire intended this time.
So due to the overwhelming misunderstanding of this video & the anger it has incited – especially the bizarre and horrible personal attacks on actress Levy Tran – we’re pulling the video down within the next 48 hours.
But we’ll leave it up until then to give anyone who cares a chance to see for themselves what it’s really about before it disappears from our channel and website forever.
So just step back, take a breath, and relax.
Tran wasn’t immune to the backlash and tweeted an apology this week:
I’m so sorry once again to anyone who was offended by the video. It wasn’t at all the intention. I truly apologize
— Levy Tran (@MissLevy) August 1, 2013
It was meant to be light hearted and fun. Satirical. They are sweet boys and not at all racist. That is all I will say. I’m sorry once again
— Levy Tran (@MissLevy) July 31, 2013
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
— Levy Tran (@MissLevy) July 31, 2013
Watch the video here:
http://youtu.be/Y0zlkB-s_Vk
