From the LA Times - O'Neal Issues Apology Laker center says he was only joking in comments about Yao and that his relationship with Louis Farrakhan is his own business. By Tim Brown, Times Staff Writer It was a day when he was lambasted on talk radio and the Internet, linked socially to Louis Farrakhan by a New York Post gossip columnist and threatened with fines by the NBA for not speaking publicly, and near the end of that day Shaquille O'Neal apologized. He said he was not a racist for his taunt of Houston center Yao Ming, said his relationship with the Nation of Islam leader was his business, and, simply by saying all of that, eased any pressure he might have felt from the NBA. The league had grown concerned that O'Neal had gone more than a month without formally addressing the media. The Laker center was criticized by a weekly Asian publication more than six months after looking into a cable television camera and, according to a column under the headline, "Shaq is a Racist," saying, "Tell Yao Ming, 'Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh,' " apparently mocking the Chinese language. About a month ago, the audio of that interview was played on a local radio show. By Friday, the column in AsianWeek had become a popular issue for the call-in shows, and O'Neal arrived at Staples Center for the Lakers' game against the Cleveland Cavaliers aware of the public firestorm. "If I offended anybody," O'Neal said, "I apologize." Yao, in Atlanta, seemed to accept O'Neal's explanation. The Lakers, in the meantime, have received "several" phone calls regarding O'Neal's interview, according to one official. "To say I'm a racist against Asians is crazy," O'Neal said. "It's probably [someone] just trying to start trouble.... I'm an idiot prankster. "I said a joke. It was a 70-30 joke. Seventy percent of people thought it was funny, 30 didn't. "At times I try to be a comedian. Sometimes I say good jokes, sometimes I say bad jokes. If I hurt anybody's feelings, I apologize." Also, the Post reported in Thursday's editions that Farrakhan was among the guests at O'Neal's Dec. 26 wedding in Beverly Hills. O'Neal has spoken previously of his Muslim faith, even making a display of it during the past Western Conference finals, when he greeted fellow Muslim and Sacramento King Hedo Turkoglu with a kiss before every game. "I don't judge people," O'Neal said of his association with Farrakhan. "Of course I believe in God. Only God could have given me what I have. "When you know yourself, who you are and what you are, you don't worry about certain things. I'm not going to lose sleep over this.... Hopefully, people won't judge me by what they think my beliefs are. "The world we live in, there's trials and tribulations. We move on. What I believe right now doesn't matter. My views are my views." O'Neal insisted that his reference to Yao was intended as a joke, not as a put-down of Yao, the rookie who leads all centers -- including O'Neal -- in the conference All-Star balloting. Before the Rockets played in Atlanta on Friday night, Yao said, "I believe Shaquille O'Neal was joking with what he said, but I think a lot of Asian people don't understand this kind of joke. "I think there are a lot of difficulties in two different cultures understanding each other, especially countries of very large populations, China and the United States. The world is getting smaller and has a greater understanding of cultures." As for O'Neal's run at the language: "Even when I was little I took a long time to learn Chinese." Clipper center Wang Zhizhi, in Seattle to play the SuperSonics, said he had not heard what O'Neal said and therefore would not comment. The Lakers released a statement from General Manager Mitch Kupchak that read, in part, "Knowing Shaquille, I am certain that this was nothing more than a misguided attempt at humor, and that he did not intend to insult or criticize Yao Ming or any member of the Asian race." Lei Bo, a spokesman for the People's Republic of China consulate in Los Angeles, said Thursday he had never heard of O'Neal. "I'm not a basketball fan," he said. Given an account of O'Neal's interview, Lei said, "I only hope that Yao Ming continues to play well with his teammates and that his American counterparts treat him well." At stake, perhaps, for O'Neal is a long list of endorsements, including high-profile national accounts with Radio Shack and Burger King. "If this were a story with substance then I think it's possible there would be a problem," O'Neal's agent, Perry Rogers, said Friday. "But there's nothing behind it. The fact is, Shaq is someone that absolutely treats everyone equally. He has never judged anyone based on race, religion, age or sex. I've never seen him make a distinction between people." After Friday's game, O'Neal sat in front of his locker, a small tape recorder to his right ear. "Toy-inchee," he said, then rewound the tape. "Toy-inchee." He looked up. "Chinese," he said, "for 'I'm sorry.' For when I see Yao Ming." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is hard to tell whether Shaq is really sincere (after all, it took him over a month) or whether he was under pressure from the league who didn't want to have this touchy situation endanger their dreams of capitalizing on the Chinese market or his agent who saw all his endorsements going bye bye... Anyways, the man has apologized. Let's all follow Yao's example and move on...
Related article: Yao takes high road on Shaq's comments ATLANTA -- Ever the diplomat, Rockets center Yao Ming passed on an invitation to join Friday's raging debate over whether comments Shaquille O'Neal made in June were racist. Yao instead chose the high road. He artfully dodged the heat of the debate, instead returning to his now familiar role as an ambassador -- part gracefully serious and part comic. In a June television interview, the Lakers center used a mock Chinese accent to say, "Tell Yao Ming, `Ching chong yang wah ah soh.' " The quote was replayed on a radio show in December, and on Friday, a copy of a column written last month in Asian Week about the comments was given to Los Angeles media, inspiring a suddenly lively debate about whether the taunt was racist and offensive. Yao showed no sign he was offended but made another appeal for greater understanding. "I really only found out about it in the last two days," Yao said. "I think there are a lot of difficulties in two different cultures understanding each other, especially countries of very large populations (such as) China and the United States. The world is getting smaller and has a greater understanding of cultures. I believe Shaquille O'Neal was joking with what he said, but I think a lot of Asian people don't understand this kind of joke." When asked if O'Neal owed him an apology, Yao said: "I think that's something he'll have to decide ... for himself." But if O'Neal was joking, Yao sent one back, pretending O'Neal was simply trying his best to speak Chinese. "Chinese is hard to learn," Yao said. "Even when I was little, I took a long time to learn Chinese." Later, he even said he might seek O'Neal's advice. Yao, who wants to buy a car and learn to drive it, was asked what sort of vehicle would accommodate his 7-5 frame. "I think," he said, "I'll have to go ask Shaq."
A note for all our Chinese friends who visit this site and who may not know who Louis Farrakhan is. He is a controversial African American Muslim leader who has attracted some criticism in the past for making critical comments about Jews.
A storm in the tea cup? Ever since Shaq watched Yao's play at Staple center, his comments are anything but derogatory. I don't think Yao even cares about what he says.
It's good that's everything is settled now. Hopefully Yao and Shaq become good friends. (will there be a funny commercial w/ Shaq and Yao to cheer everyone up??)
Personally, I think we as a home crowd should loudly chant "Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy" when Shaq comes out. The national media at the game will be forced to address the hypocrisy of their criticism of Zoeller and defense of Shaq.
I find this article both surprising and revealing! If Shaq is a Muslim then his life style and activities do not indicate that he folows the strict code and way of thinking, as did Hakeem! I seem to remember that he was brought up as a Catholic Christian, of that I could be mistaken! For sure if he is a follower of Mr Farrakhan then he is a racist.If he followed Malcom X then I would know he had deep conviction for the Muslim faith, which encompases all races equally.
Mocking Chinese cannot be considered racisim. What if Shaq mocked an african language? What if a Fench guy mocks English? What if an Italian guy mocks French? As long as he does not comment on the race, it is not racist.
"pigtaker" has been banned. Please respect the Rockets forum: topics about racial issues are WAY off topic in this forum ... I don't care if they're about Yao Ming or not. They don't belong here.
Racism or not mocking anyone and end up hurting them is not a right thing to do. Even with people of the same race when you make fun of someone( because of the way they look , talk, eat or whatever the case) if it end up hurting them then you should refrain yourself from doing it. Just show some consideration for others as we are all fellow human beings. As far as Shaq goes, I think since he did apologize we should stop condemning him. Everyone at one time or another had said something unintentionally that end up hurting others. So if he realizing it and apologize then just leave it behind and move on. As far as how sincere he is when he apologize, no one really know but himself. So since we can never tell then we shouldn't judge his intention.
Clutch, I am somewhat lost, could you or someone explain your signature? No one can claim something is not racist to others. If you are not a part of the group, race, religion etc, you can not comment on whether it is or isnot racism. What we can comment on is how we would feel if we were a part of that group or how we would feel if a comment like the one was made toward us. That being said, if the Asian paper felt it was out of line then they have every right to take a stance and Shaq has no place saying whether oir not it was wrong. "70/30" The reason for that is likely from the majority of the community he made remaks about not feeling they were appropriate, and the remainder looked at it as "how would I feel if some one made the statement about my people. Bottom line it was not well thought out on Shaq's part, and I truly feel that he meant nothing by it and would not do it if he would have thought it out a little more.
You are right... But Shaq just made a joke in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Though mocking some languages to your neighbors can be just regarded as a joke, mocking publicly is another story, especially right after Yao's arrival to the NBA. He is not racist, since he apologized and announced that it is a joke. What if he really thought as what he said? It is definitely not appropriate to make jokes all around, especially in the wrong place and at the wrong time. It should be an lesson for everybody.
My guess - and of course I can in no way be sure what Clutch was thinking, so it is really just a guess - would be that having Ming on the Rockets has increased the number of visitors coming to the site so much that Clutch's servers have trouble handling the traffic and that the signature implies that by benching Yao Ming that problem could be solved. However, I think a move like that would only create even more discussion (and outrage ), so I am not sure that that signature makes too much sense .
Just a quick comment to the "70/30" from Shaq. Probably the 70% are mostly non-Asian, and the 30% Asian, especially Chinese Americans who has suffered these types of racial taunting growing up here. I dont think Shaq is a racist, but it was an insulting racial comments after all. It just my 2 cents.
I think he found that this forum is littered with so many Yao's topics.... and he is getting frustrated to manage them.... hehe, anyway.... Yao will not be benched, and Clutch will need to undertake this heavy job in the following 10 years.
Imagine if this was an Indiana Pacers forum and Clutch's signature was: Bench Ron Artest. He'd come here and destroy all of Clutch's servers.
