Sum Ting Wong, you ask? Why, yes. We’ve encountered another case of accidental racism .
On Friday, Bay Area Fox affiliate KTVU reported the supposed named of the pilots on Asiana Flight 214. They were: Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, and Bang Ding Ow.
Yeah, those are obviously fake , but the anchor read every single one without batting an eye. She even said that the names had been confirmed by the NTSB.
Almost immediately, KTVU realized their mistake . The apologized in a statement, clarifying in a later broadcast:
“Earlier in the newscast we gave some names of pilots involved in the Asiana Airlines crash. These names were not accurate despite an NTSB official in Washington confirming them late this morning. We apologize for the error.”
So there’s still an NTSB official out there somewhere who thinks he or she is pretty darn clever. Hope you’re proud of yourself. People did actually die on that flight, you know. But whatever, right?
Oh, and this isn’t the first time that coverage of the place crash at San Francisco International Airport has had been accidentally racist.
Earlier this week, the normally above-board Chicago Sun-Times ran a front-pager with the headline “FRIGHT 214,” which some critics pointed out could have been mistaken as a racial jab at the stereotype about Asian accents.
The Sun-Times apologized, and clarified that no offense was intended .
Let us know what you think of KTVU’s accidental racism flap in the comments below. We’ll update you when we know more about how and where this racist “joke” originated.
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