“Licorice Pizza” has drawn criticism ahead of its release due to a controversial scene.
In the movie, a white male played by John Michael Higgins speaks to his Japanese wife in a fake Asian accent. He later repeats this with his new Japanese wife further on in the film.
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“Picture this: You’re watching LICORICE PIZZA. It’s brilliant,” wrote David Chen, host of the “Culturally Relevant” podcast, on Twitter.
Picture this: You’re watching LICORICE PIZZA. It’s brilliant.
Then, early on, a buffoonish character drops an Asian caricature. The (mostly white) audience laughs. And now, you gotta think about that laughter the rest of the film.
Did you picture it? Because it fucking sucks.
— David Chen (@davechensky) November 19, 2021
“Then, early on, a buffoonish character drops an Asian caricature. The (mostly white) audience laughs. And now you gotta think about that laughter the rest of the film.”
Screenwriter Karen Maine also took to social media to discuss the scene.
I saw #LicoricePizza over a week ago and it's taken me this long to process it. There's an incredibly racist, seemingly pointless (other than a cheap laugh, which it got at the screening I was at) scene that mocks Asian accents.
— Karen Maine (@karen__maine) November 22, 2021
“Licorice Pizza” stars Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper and Alana Haim.
The coming-of-age film is set in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley in the 1970s.
