Seo Taiji. Roora. Turbo. Jinusean. Yoo Seung Joon.1TYM. JYP. Rain.
Rain
Hyori the hotness!
LA Riots circa 1992
Be the Reds everywhere!
Chan Ho Park's drop kick!
Cast of K-Town
This is the world I grew up in. I graduated from UC Berkeley, worked for several years in U.S. politics, and wildly ended up in entertainment. As you can see, I am no stranger to K-Town, community empowerment, and the media. It’s from this framework that I understand the community, and now I am one of the 4 producers of the most talked about reality show of this year: the K-Town reality show.
A lot of interviews, articles, opinion pieces, and facebook comments have been made about this show. The producers (Tyrese Gibson, Mike Le, Eugene Choi, and myself) and the cast have made a number of public statements through some of these articles. However, I couldn’t help but relent to AngryAsianMan’s request to write on his blog, who, by the way, will remain nameless. I will, once again, address some of the questions that the community has posed and commented about.
FAQ’s – Frequently Asked Questions
Common Question #1: What channel will this show be on?
Answer: It’s in the works. True story. I’ve had a number of people commenting on facebook with passionate, fuming responses wondering when the F this show is gonna be on TV. And other FB patrons would respond by saying it’ll never be on air. At the same time, others are constantly confusing this with KTown Cowboys. I just met with my good friend Danny Cho from KTown Cowboys the other day, and he told me he gets asked a similar question all the time. All I can say is…it’s in the works. TV shows do not get made overnight. I am just grateful that there is such a huge demand from both yaysayers and naysayers. (Yaysayers…is that even a word?). Having said that, we hope to find out real soon. And when we do, I’ll of course let you know.
Common Question #2: Is this show going to perpetuate negative stereotypes?
Answer: This is an interesting question because the Asian American community immediately thought of the worst and made various negative judgments about the show while comparing it to Jersey Shore.
Jersey Shore
Common Comment #1: “This show is going to take Asians back 10 years!”
Response: I’ve seen this comment floating around facebook a lot during the months of May and June. In fact, I personally know some of the people who were writing that statement and passing it on to their friends. It’s all good. As Tupac said, “I ain’t mad at cha. Got nothin’ but love for ya.” Let’s consider that comment though. 10 years ago was actually the year 2,000, man. What stereotypes have changed since that year? In the year 2,000, Michael Chang the tennis player won his final top title; Yu-Gi-Oh was a hit; and Yao Ming, the sexiest NBA player ever, was sought after only to join the league in 2002. In a related note, William Hung would enter our consciousness in 2004.
William Hung - makes me cringe!
Common Comment #2: “This show is gonna be a disgrace to Asians!”
Response: The last time I saw something similar to this kind of a response was during the VTech times of Cho Seung Hui
Infamous Cho Seung Hui
Michelle friggin Malkin
Overall, I believe this passionate debate is good. All of these clashing concerns are good. It’s been 8 months since the creation of this idea; 7 months since Tyrese Gibson (star of TRANSFORMERS and 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS) got involved; 5 months since casting; 2.5 months since filming the pilot; and 2 months since editing and planning for the show’s future. This show has garnered more press and attention here in America than any K-pop star, actor, or anything Korean since the LA Riots. And all I can say is that we are excited and we really appreciate all of the people who have been following this show! Let the healthy debate continue and please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube where all the updates are. Thank you!
I’m Eddie Kim, and I approve this message.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ktownrealityshow
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