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Dana White on Choi Hong-Man
By Zach Arnold | February 4, 2008
Audio evidence here at the 6:20 mark…
Dana calls Choi Hong-Man “long duck dong.” Not since Phil Baroni mocked Yoon Dong-Sik as “pork fried rice” have we had quite an insensitive remark from a top MMA voice (outside of Japan, anyways — the garbage Yoshihiro Akiyama has had to put up with is ridiculous, as well).
Topics: K-1, Media, MMA, South Korea, Zach Arnold | 82 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Unless “long duck dong” has some historical racist meaning, it sounds like he just forgot his name and came up with a funny sounding alternative. How is it insensitive?
Let’s nt make more of it than what it is.
That is 100% racist. You shouldnt even need to argue abiut it.
Doesn’t the phrase “long duck dong” come from the movie Sixteen Candles? I just went to imdb. Gedde Watanabe’s character is listed as Long Duk Dong. Doesn’t Molly Ringwald’s little brother in the movie give Gedde’s character that name?
For Asian audiences who aren’t familiar with that movie, Dana’s comments probably sounds really bad. For the head of an MMA organization to make a percieved ethnic slur- not good. There are/have been so many good asian fighters in MMA. They deserve more respect than that.
I laughed.
Is anyone really surprised? Dana is a thug dressed in a suit (and occasionally in one of those assclown Affliction shirts).
I also heard that after Dana White made the racist comment, he pulled the corners of his eyes back with his fingers, and said “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these!”
But no, I’m not surprised. Dropping the F-bomb, making gay jokes, insulting an entire race of people…all par for the course when class-act Dana White is behind a microphone.
Unless “long duck dong” has some historical racist meaning, it sounds like he just forgot his name and came up with a funny sounding alternative. How is it insensitive?
From now on because i can’t remember your nickname Az correctly, i’ll call you ASS … would that remotely considerate?
Dana’s comments were NOT racist! Why are people so quick to break out the race card?!
Dana’s remark was making fun of Hong Man Choi’s *** NAME ***, NOT his race!
Jesus Christ, people! Chris Berman makes fun of players names every week during football season on ESPN! Is he a racialist, guilty of committing racism, too!
Lighten up, people!
Well I heard one time Sakakibara held a press conference just after it was announced that they’d sold PRIDE to Zuffa and he pulled his eyes as open as possible and said, “hot dogs, baseball, hot dogs, baseball – howdy partner!”
HERO’S once had a promo for Antonio Silva where they paired up video of him training with video of gorilla’s doing gorilla things.
*gorillas – bad grammar on my part
Classy.
HERO’S once had a promo for Antonio Silva where they paired up video of him training with video of gorilla’s doing gorilla things.
K-1’s promotion of Bob Sapp was enormously racist. Oddly, no talk about that…
The Japanese — by American standards — are very racist, especially concerning blacks and Koreans.
But that doesn’t absolve White’s stupidity. This is not the same situation as Berman saying “Amani ‘It’s Not A’ Toomer”.
There is an insulting racial connotation to calling an Asian person “Long Duck Dong”.
Is this a big deal? Not really. But to deny that it is a racial insult is pure stupidity.
“Dana’s comments were NOT racist! Why are people so quick to break out the race card?!
Dana’s remark was making fun of Hong Man Choi’s *** NAME ***, NOT his race!
Jesus Christ, people! Chris Berman makes fun of players names every week during football season on ESPN! Is he a racialist, guilty of committing racism, too!
Lighten up, people!”
Are you really that dense? Of course it was racist! Yes, he made fun of his name with a silly Korean-sounding name, and it was racist. I thought it was kind of funny (I’m not very PC) and it’s fine if you thought it was funny, but to deny it was racist is just plain stupidity. It would be the equivalent of calling a Japanese person “Yamamoto” only because it is a very Japanese name. Yes, I know Yamamoto is an atual Japanese name, but it was in old Bugs Bunny cartoons (Bugs Bunny would make fun of Japanese soldiers in World War II, complete with the buck-teeth, slant eyes, and yellow skin).
How anyone can defend this as being anything other than racist is beyond my comprehension. It’s absolutely no different than Rosie O’Donnell saying she say something on Asian tv and then doing her translation as, “ching chong, wing wong, ding dong.”
I think we’re passed the days of taping our eyes back, having buck teeth and saying “me likey”…having said that, is it any surprise this idiot would say anything less?
HMC would whoop dana’s ass in no time…
Explain to me what negative thing the nickname “long duck dong” says about Korean people? What steoreotype or prejudiced belief does it invoke? None. There’s no insult in there about Korean people or East Asian people.
You’re all so paranoid about cultural differences, you break out the race card at any opporunity you get.
And for ttt, you could call me ass if you forgot my nick. It would be mean, but it wouldn’t be racist.
It’s racist because it is mocking their language. It is also racist because it is assaulting all Asians without regard to their nationality. Long Duck Dong is not even a Korean name. But hey, they all look the same to me, right?
Long Duk Dong is the name of the Asian character in the film Sixteen Candles indeed. Good memory. I loved that movie.
Dana White would have been able to get away with that comment in the 80s when it was more socially acceptable to parody Asians in the mainstream media (as in the movie Sixteen Candles). In the 21st century, in an era of Political Correctness, comments like that are going to generate controversy.
Dana shouldn’t have used those words though. In fact Dana shouldn’t be saying half the stuff that comes out of his mouth period. This only goes to show why Zuffa never really make an effort to give the Japanese and Koreans more opportunities in the UFC. They probably feel that Asian fighters aren’t marketable because of the American stereotype that Asian men aren’t as tough as Black or Caucasian men. Aside from Gono, Chonan and Kazuhiro Nakamura, the UFC hasn’t done a good job of bringing in quality Japanese fighters. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me at all that the UFC won’t have Gomi, Sakurai and other big Japanese names.
And yes, to be fair to Zuffa and American society, it’s true that Japanese society tends to be guilty of this kind of crap too. The Japanese tend to be less tolerant of other races (Blacks especially) and ethnic groups (ie. Koreans) than Americans. The Japanese just aren’t as vocal about it and Japan has very few non-Japanese minorities so racism isn’t being made a big deal over there like it is in America, which is much more diverse.
Wtf are you talking about, cyphron? How is it mocking all Asians, you twit?
And it does sound Korean. Look at the Korean presidential cabinet:
President Roh Moo-hyun
President-elect Lee Myung-bak
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo
Three mono-syllabic words, exactly like Long Duck Dong.
He’s mocking Choi, and that’s it. God, you’re all so fucking pathetic, getting bent out of shape because someone pointed out people in another country have different names than you.
Dave2, you brought up more racist garbage than anyone else, which is exactly what this is about. Your hidden prejudices making you see racism where there is none.
Those comments are racist. But never mind that, the man is a total homophobe. How can a man who runs an organisation such as the UFC and continually makes anti-gay remarks openly, as well as thiS level of racism, expect to be taken seriously on a wider level across the world, including on network television, where there really are QUEERS~!!
Fire Dana.
“K-1’s promotion of Bob Sapp was enormously racist. Oddly, no talk about that…”
Except that people do talk about that and comment on how messed up it was. I learned of it on this very site.
As for Dana, racist comment with out a doubt. Not horrible over the top racist but still totally wrong for the head of a company to be saying shit like that. Imagine how it must feel to be a S.Korean or other Asian fighter and having your boss saying shit like that.
So if I call him Dana Black instead of Dana White, am I being racist? I can’t even tell anymore.
Is Dana part of a minority group that has been excluded and spat by the government? (Chinese exclusion act, Japanese internments, etc.)
If not, then you’re not a racist.
Here’s a “great” ad that probably inspired Dana’s comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsk3fZc2J_I
What trash.
Of course, in all situations like these you have to consider a) the source, and b) the context.
that said, we all know Dana White didn’t just ‘slip up’, or have a momentary lapse in judgment. He’s a foulmouthed, homophobic jerk who doesn’t care what anyone thinks – and this certainly wasn’t a first offense in terms of being insulting and rude.
So no, I’m not giving him the benefit of the doubt.
To the people who claim that White’s remark is not racist, would you feel same if he dismissively referred to Sokoudjou as “Kunta Kinte”?
It’s been said for years that Dana White doesn’t conduct himself professionally enough as the UFC President. The UFC is the size of a mid-market baseball team right? Dana needs to act like he’s the president of an organization of that size.
And for those of you who said the UFC wasn’t trying to screw Arlovski over as much as humanly possible as he heads to free agency…Arlovski’s fight with Jake O’Brien (if that wasn’t insulting enough) is now a pre-lim fight!
I’d love to hear the people who said I was “hating” on Zuffa and “trolling” respond to this one.
“To the people who claim that White’s remark is not racist, would you feel same if he dismissively referred to Sokoudjou as “Kunta Kinte”?”
Excellent point.
if that happened, it would be on the front page of every major newspaper in America, Dana White would be crucified in the press, and within 10 seconds Al Sharpton would be lobbying to have MMA banned in every state because the sport is now racist.
For the sake of the sport, please Dana – do not pull a Kramer. we’re begging you.
MMA fans have a significant racist contingent to them. Always have and always will. Dana’s remarks are neither shocking or unexpected.
And LOL at all the ‘how is it racist’ comments. Even more funny pointing out Bob Sapp’s adventures in Japan as if that some how dismisses White’s obvious racism. Have to say that went precisely as expected.
What was a stretch was the making fun of name excuse – now that was both ridiculous and racist. Why bother making excuses? You may as well all be honest and embrace your own bigotry.
I’d love to hear the people who said I was “hating” on Zuffa and “trolling” respond to this one.
Ha, good, lets get back to MMA. I condemn Dana for his off-the cuff racist comments, but there’s no way I condemn him for this.
If Arlovski is going to go elsewhere, why should the UFC help build his popularity by putting him on the main card?
It makes sense if the UFC’s goal is to help itself and hinder the competitors.
But as an MMA fan, yeah, it sucks big time to not see him on the PPV.
Back to MMA? May be you should check the topic.
See comment number 2.
“nt” is a typo, I meant “not”
This site is getting as bad as sherdog. Too bad they banned me…
Why does it matter? He would not be the first American to do that nor will he be the last. Dana White is a known shit talker, how does this surprise anyone? This is tabloid trash, back to real stories please.
Arlovski making a risky, but smart move by becoming a free agent and seeing what kind of offers he gets. This puts him in much better negotiating position with Zuffa then if he signed again without knowing his open market value.
Zuffa for their part is playing hardball by giving him an opponent that no one wants to fight and by relagating it to the undercard to not further increase his stock. This makes good business sense because why would Zuffa promote a guy who could leave them? They want to counter Arlovski’s move and control his value as best they can before going back to table.
Of course Zuffa cannot decide the outcomes of fights and it is huge incentive for Arlovski to not fight boring and win in exciting fashion to further increase his ranking and stock with fans.
There’s an intricate game of negotiation being played by both sides here and its rather naive of Gaijin to characterize this as Zuffa trying to “screw” Arlovski.
My money is on Arlovski resigning with Zuffa. IFL and ProElite can’t pay him what he wants as they are both bleeding cash. I think ultimately Zuffa will cave and give him more or less what he wants and we’ll see Arlovski back in the title picture. Arlovski vs Nog is a headliner I’d love to see.
Except that people do talk about that and comment on how messed up it was. I learned of it on this very site.
It might very well have been from me, since I’m apparently the only one disgusted.
The talk about how people are using the mention of japanese fight promotion and its absurd racism as a “deflection” are kidding themselves. The fake outrage at a Dana White quote here has reached epic proportions.
ProElite has Showtime money backing it. If Showtime wants Arlovski, they’ll pay for him.
Az is a complete idiot. Of course this has elements of racism. I’m not saying Dana is racist, but comments like this do make him look very bad. It would be the equivalent of Dana calling a Hispanic fighter “Juan Valdez” or a black fighter “Leroy” because he forgot their names. Apparently Dana thought it was funny to mock a culture.
I think someone needs to kick Dana in the teeth once in a while. He really says some stupid stuff and as the president of a huge organization, he needs to watch his ignorant mouth.
Typical. People say this shit isin’t racist. Of course if Dana made fun of the name of a black guy or mexican the media would be up in a fucking frenzy. Typical that the Asians still don’t get the “equal treatment” that other races get.
That fucking dyke bitch Rosie O’Donnell got away with her racist remarks, and people defended her like her publicist saying “Oh that’s just her style.”
This “let’s treat Asians like shit” attitude has gone far enough in America. I mean what the fuck? You’re still sore over the Hiroshima bombings? Or do Asians have to act like thugs/gangsta and rap about fucking white women to get special treatment around here? Hell even the illegal Mexicans have more rights than the Asians and the Asians actually get into the fucking country LEGALLY. And the fact that thye try to contribute to society in a positive way. Unlike the OTHERS…It’s total fucking hypocritcal bullshit.
Now I have defended Dana before, especially with calling Gary Millen a quote “fucking homo” mostly cause that’s what Millen is, but this is fucking stupid on his behalf.
ProElite does not have Showtime money behind it right now. Showtime is basically paying some production costs. Nothing more, nothing less. to sign Arlovski for more then he is being offered in the UFC will financially hurt Pro Elite.
ProElite does not have Showtime money behind it right now. Showtime is basically paying some production costs. Nothing more, nothing less. to sign Arlovski for more then he is being offered in the UFC will financially hurt Pro Elite.
It only hurts ProElite if he doesn’t help them draw viewers or establish the legitimacy of the organization, which is the whole point of signing him in the first place.
Long Duck Dong came from the movie “Sixteen Candles” and it’s not “racist”.
If calling hime Long Duck Dong is racsit, and comparing it to others like the guy above did with Soko being called “Kunta Kinte”… then would you agree that calling a white guy “Billy Bob Joe” from “the trailer park” is racist?
It’s the same damn thing. So if that’s not racist, then neither is “Long Duck Dong”. This crap goes both ways, or it doesn’t go at all.
“There’s an intricate game of negotiation being played by both sides here and its rather naive of Gaijin to characterize this as Zuffa trying to “screw” Arlovski.”
Well obviously it’s not an outright screwjob ala Vince McMahon or something like that where a referee calls off a fight for the other guy.
But he’s been held out of a fight since beating Werdum, Werdum is now next in line (tentatively) for a title shot and Arlovski is fighting on a prelim undercard for his last fight, against a human blanket no less.
I’d say they’re definitely trying to “screw” his bargaining position as much as they possibly can.
“If calling hime Long Duck Dong is racsit, and comparing it to others like the guy above did with Soko being called “Kunta Kinte”… then would you agree that calling a white guy “Billy Bob Joe” from “the trailer park” is racist?”
Yes, yes it is. If someone said that, they’d be stereotyping the people and the culture of a certain region of the USA.