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‘Basketball Wives’ Star Evelyn Lozada Slammed Over Racist Anti-Asian Slur

By Samantha Chang
Published on: 05:01 PST, Aug 27, 2018

Evelyn Lozada, a star of the VH1 reality show Basketball Wives, is under fire after making racist slurs against fellow cast member Cecilia (“Cece”) Gutierrez, who’s Filipino.

Some fans are so upset that they launched a Change.org petition demanding Lozada be fired for her racism (see link in tweet below).

“This Racial Comment ‘SLUR’ is unexceptable [sic], especially from a show with a majority female and minority cast. Regardless of being black, white, skinny, fat, diabetes, gay, lesbian, transgender, ASIAN… It’s unexceptbale [sic] to make fun of someone because of these things, and Ms. Lozada has done this on multiple occasions throughout the show’s run time.”

The petition demands that Basketball Wives executive producer Shaunie O’Neal (the ex-wife of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal) fire Lozada. It seeks 5,000 signatures and has received 3,150 so far.

“If not, expect the show to drop in massive ratings, as we the viewers will not tolerate sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, fat-shaming, or any other type of harassment and injustice,” the petition reads.

Evelyn Mocked Cece As ‘Lee-Lee’

The brouhaha erupted on the August 26 episode of Basketball Wives, after Evelyn mocked Cece as “Lee-Lee.”

Cast member Malaysia Pargo explained that “Lee-Lee” was a racial reference to an Asian nail salon worker the group knows. Lozada made the slur during an argument over lunch. The entire cast was on location in Amsterdam for the episode.

Cece Gutierrez is the girlfriend of retired NBA star Byron Scott, a former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lozada was furious that Cece had called her “Evil-Lyn” for attacking her during the group lunch. That’s when Evelyn taunted Cece as “Lee-Lee.”

In previous episodes, Lozada pushed a false rumor that Cece – a registered nurse who runs her own health clinic – gave “happy endings” at her clinic, a reference to oral sex that’s allegedly given at some sleazy Asian massage houses for an extra tip.

Lozada Also Used ‘N-Word’ Before

In past episodes, Evelyn has also referred to her ex-husband, former NFL star Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, as a n***a (the two were married for 41 days). Lozada is of Puerto Rican descent.

Evelyn is on Basketball Wives because she dated retired NBA star Antoine Walker from 1998 to 2008, but is otherwise not married to or dating a basketball player like the other women.

Many Basketball Wives fans – notably, many African-Americans – were furious that executive producer Shaunie O’Neal said nothing when Lozada lobbed the racist slurs at Cece. None of the other castmates said anything, either.

One woman said if Roseanne Barr got fired over a single tweet, Lozada should also be fired for her repeated offenses.

Evelyn Lozada has not apologized or commented amid the growing backlash over her racist jab. Cecilia Gutierrez has also not publicly commented.

Cece thanked fans for their support on Twitter.

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