William Hung: A cruel, racist joke for 'American Idol'

I don't watch "American Idol." So when I saw a magazine piece with a singer named William Hung being lusted over by a bunch of models, I was a little curious. This guy did not at all fit the image of a sex object.

I started reading, thinking maybe he wooed fans with his voice and delivery of heart-melting lyrics. I learned instead that Hung is one of the show's losers. He apparently can't sing or dance to save his life. He came across as a nerdy karaoke-loving Asian guy trying desperately to be, well, an all-American idol.

Hung is seen, in short, as a joke.

And it is a racist joke, right down to his name and accent. True, Hung can't help his name or how Americans will receive it, nor is his accent unusual. But when packaged as part of an overall gag, suddenly the mocking of it is implicitly condoned.

But the joke isn't funny, as much as it was carefully calculated to make people laugh. It is just plain wrong, precisely because it was so carefully calculated.

Hung isn't a Chinese comedian who is mocking racial stereotypes. People are not laughing with Hung, people are laughing at him, and the whole entertainment industry seems to be supporting this collective racist guffaw.

In a Rolling Stone interview, Hung said, "OK, so I'm not famous for the right reasons I'm infamous, a joke. It doesn't make me feel good, because I'm a genuine person ... "

Problem is, Hung should have never made it as far as the stage, and certainly not to a record deal. He should have been screened out before then. But he wasn't, and I'm convinced he was put in the spotlight for reasons that have nothing to do with his being a "genuine" person.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the idea that someone can be famous as themselves and not have to put on a false image of cool. But the value of that relies on the premise that the person is admired regardless.

Overall, my perception is that Hung is not admired. There are some attempts by talk shows to display him as just a sweet guy. But the reason he is on talk shows to begin with is the joke.

And if Hung is an aware and active participant in the cruel joke, whatever his intentions, then he is just as much to blame for the results as those who are exploiting him.

Granted, I'm not Asian, so I can't be certain how offensive it is to have Hung laughed at for stereotypes and cultural biases that Asians have been battling for generations.

But the Hung debacle is not purely racist; it is also cruel laughter at someone who isn't perfect, someone who is seen, in the words of Rolling Stone, as a "dweeb."

It cannot be good for the overall character of our nation to practice and encourage cruelly laughing at a fellow human being. Is it not this kind of behavior and humiliation that leads young, hurting children and teens to take up guns and retaliate against their classmates?

Further, negative stereotypes have insidious effects in general, influencing our behaviors and choices in undesirable ways. Perpetuating negative stereotypes is never a good thing.

Like all cruel jokes, Hung will not bring America crashing down in flames, and will likely be dismissed by those who promote it and those who laugh as being harmless.

But as with all such bits of cruelty, this joke is added into and influences the collective way we view and interact with each other.

And when events like 9-11 happen, or when we personally come into conflict with somebody ethnically, racially or socially different from ourselves, that collective pool of cruelty and stereotyping can come bubbling up from our unconscious. In the end, not all laughter is good for the soul.

Randy Henderson is a WSU senior. E-mail: NEXT@seattletimes.com