Jay Leno apologized for a story of making anti-Asian jokes.
The comedian and former host of The Tonight Show was attacked for more than a decade for making offensive jokes that prompted Asian American Advancing Justice and Media Action Network for Asian American (Manaa) to ask NBC to break ties.
“I’m issuing this apology,” said Leno in a call from Zoom to Guy Aoki, the head of Manaa, according to Variety. “I don’t consider this specific case as another example of a culture of cancellation, but a legitimate mistake that was made on my part.”
Leno was most recently criticized in 2019 for joking that Koreans eat dog meat while appearing as guest judges at America’s Got Talent. The joke was said to have been made in front of an Asian official.
“At the time I made these jokes, I really thought they were harmless,” he said. “I was mocking our enemy in North Korea and, like most jokes, there was a real tone to them.
Leno continued: “At the time, the attitude that some group is always complaining about something prevailed, so don’t worry about it. Whenever we received a complaint, there would be two sides to the discussion: either ‘we need to deal with this’ or ‘screw it if they don’t take a joke’. Many times I sided with the latter, even when in my heart I knew it was wrong. “
Aoki has publicly asked for an action for many years. In 2012, he wrote a letter to Tonight Show advertisers stating that Leno’s repeated jokes were part of a problem that meant that Asian Americans were regularly “subjected to ridicule, disdain and abuse”, which he said ” resulted in an increase in hate and racial discrimination crimes against Asians, Asian Americans and immigrants ”.
He accepted the apology from Leno and Leno, 69, who currently hosts Jay Leno’s Garage, expressed his desire for it to be accepted in general. “I hope to be able to live up to their expectations in the future,” he said.
The meeting between Aoki and Leno came after the mass shooting in Atlanta, which resulted in the deaths of eight people, including six Asian women. During the pandemic, Asian Americans reported thousands of incidents related to hatred.