Actress In ‘Offensive’ Pete Hoekstra Ad Apologizes, Calls Ad a ‘Mistake’
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Pete Hoekstra Campaign
The actress who portrayed an Asian girl speaking broken English while riding her bike through rice paddies in a Super Bowl campaign ad for Rep. Pete Hoekstra is now apologizing for the ad, which has been deemed “racist” and “offensive” by people from both parties.
“It was absolutely a mistake on my part and one that, over time, I hope can be forgiven,” actress Lisa Chan wrote on her Facebook page. “I feel horrible about my participation, and I am determined to resolve my actions.”
Hoekstra, a Republican from Michigan, is challenging Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow for her U.S. Senate seat.
Chan, a 21-year-old San Francisco Bay Area resident, said she was “deeply sorry for any pain that the character I portrayed brought to my communities.
“As a recent college grad who has spent time working to improve communities and empower those without a voice, this role is not in any way representative of who I am,” Chan said on her Facebook page.
Besides her part-time acting gigs, Chan is also the founder of a nonprofit organization that works toward improving education for underprivileged youth. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in sociology and competed in the Miss California pageant this year after assuming the Miss Napa Valley title in December.
The blog Angry Asian Man was the first to identify Chan as the actress in the Hoekstra ad.
The 30-second Hoekstra ad begins with the resounding sound of a gong as Chan bicycles down a narrow dirt path bordered by rice paddies. A pointed straw hat hangs on her back as she thanks Hoekstra’s Michigan Senate race opponent, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, for supporting policies that send American jobs to China.
“Debbie spend so much American money, you borrow more and more from us,” Chan says in broken English. ”Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you Debbie. Spend It Now.”
Hoekstra’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the ad or Chan’s remorse over participating in it.
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Nothing to apologize for. She was hired to play a role, and she did that. That’s what actors do.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | February 16, 2012, 11:46 am 11:46 am
the point isn’t the actress making a poor decision, it’s that the Republican challenger is an ignorant racist. Again, the Republicans way of doing business is divisive, fear mongering. Hope he gets his butt kicked all the way to China.
Posted by: mitch eisenman | February 16, 2012, 11:54 am 11:54 am
Nothing to apologize for. She was hired to play a role, and she did that. That’s what actors do. Posted by: Rick McDaniel | February 16, 2012, 11:46 am.
I agree. The fault wasn’t hers, had she declined they would have found someone else. The fault was with the arse wipe who decided that this was a good idea in the first place.
Posted by: A Cynic | February 16, 2012, 12:04 pm 12:04 pm
This is just ABC just being ABC,ANOTHER LIBERAL NEWS OUTLET!
Posted by: fj | February 16, 2012, 12:13 pm 12:13 pm
Good for the Asian lady and bad for the dumb Republican.
Posted by: Nicholas De burgo | February 16, 2012, 12:19 pm 12:19 pm
Being a Vet, I feel this is a protected FREEDOM! If you don’t like it, don’t watch it… It is a Whole LOT better than watching Obama spend TRILLIONS of dollars, we don’t have, then cram it down our throats… ALL in the name of “CHANGE”! The REAL problem is: DEMS. can’t handle the TRUTH!!!
Posted by: Dufus McGee | February 16, 2012, 12:20 pm 12:20 pm
Why in the world is this racist? It’s the truth, we keep bowing down and sucking up to the Chinese and they keep taking us for a ride. Playing the race card is getting tiresome. The ad didn’t imply anything about race, just the economic results of playing by China’s rules.
Posted by: chatmandu002 | February 16, 2012, 12:24 pm 12:24 pm
It would be great if commenters would stop throwing out their first amendment protections every time there is an outcry against something that someone says. NOBODY has said that it was illegal for Hoekstra to show such an ad. He was obviously within his first amendment rights to show just what a racist human being he is and he has exceeded all expectations in this capacity. She is now exercising her first amendment right to say that it was a stupid mistake to reinforce a plethora of negative stereotypes to make a buck. See how it works? Nobody is curtailing anybody else’s constitutional rights.
Posted by: badgergopher | February 16, 2012, 12:41 pm 12:41 pm
She was hired to play a role. She did that. At 21, and a recent graduate with a degree in Sociology (not exactly a money-maker of a degree) who is running a nonprofit to help the underprivileged, I would imagine that she is doing far more to advance social justice and equality than most people do (which, in my opinion, far outweighs than appearing in a distasteful ad by a jerk of a politician) Further, she is accepting responsibility and apologizing. I support her 100%.
Posted by: AlreadyForgivenMoveOn | February 16, 2012, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
Typical… toss out the rascist card, jump up and down screaming about the amendments…. But the facts of the commercial remain true.
Posted by: onlyanegg | February 16, 2012, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
The truth can be “Offensive” for sure. What is racist about it? did she not do the broken english well enough?
Posted by: onlyanegg | February 16, 2012, 12:52 pm 12:52 pm
If she is “As a recent college grad who has spent time working to improve communities and empower those without a voice”, then why did she even consider playing the role? What a hipocrite.
Posted by: Drewstall | February 16, 2012, 1:08 pm 1:08 pm
DebbieSpendItNow, Typical Damn Dem. Oops, I am sorry. We DON’T want people to get the wrong idea about how BRAINLESS, Spend Free, Clueless that Party is. Obama’s high political numbers show their are a LOT of these people living here. I PRAISE a young lady who understands the truth, and only recanted because it is NOT Polite to point out the Obvious. She has to try, “To Get Along”!!
Posted by: Ben | February 16, 2012, 1:20 pm 1:20 pm
Soo..she shows the truth and its racist? How about more like its anti- Obama, which as usual will be skewed as being racist….
Posted by: angus | February 16, 2012, 1:23 pm 1:23 pm
So let me ask – do Liberals think people in China speak perfect English? Have they ever spoken to anyone from China?
Posted by: Tang L | February 16, 2012, 1:26 pm 1:26 pm
Tang L – I know may Chinese people who speak English far better than most native English speakers in the US. I was also very impressed with how many people I met in Beijing who spoke English.
Posted by: glacia | February 16, 2012, 1:55 pm 1:55 pm
Tang L – I know may Chinese people who speak English far better than most native English speakers in the US. I was also very impressed with how many people I met in Beijing who spoke English.
Posted by: glacia
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And just how many of these “perfect English” speaking Chinese are there in Beijing as opposed to how many spoke the broken English? I hardly believe it was very many.
Posted by: spike | February 16, 2012, 2:13 pm 2:13 pm
So tired of people not taking responsibility for their own actions. Yes the add as a whole was wrong but the actress is acting as if she had no idea what she was getting into. She got paid and she knew EXACTLY what she was saying and what she was doing. Bottom line she wanted the money and is now turning her back on it. I suppose its the way of the world. No one is responsible it just happened.
Posted by: Allen | February 16, 2012, 2:13 pm 2:13 pm
@spike – And your point is? Frankly there seems to be no point at all to this “broken English” thread. The rant I was replying to strongly implied there were no people in China who spoken English in any other way than broken. I was correcting the misconception. Again what is your point?
Posted by: glacia | February 16, 2012, 2:19 pm 2:19 pm
You are an actress who was very convincing as is proven by the pressure you are getting. I would take it as an affirmation of your abilities as an actress; there is no need to apologize!! I thought the commercial was powerful.
Posted by: whathappened08 | February 16, 2012, 3:06 pm 3:06 pm
What exactly did she say that was not true? If the criticism and pressure on her to recant was because she used a broken American accent and was an Asian then all we are seeing is another round of political correctness. I’m really tired of one sided indignation on the part of the left.
Posted by: Perplexed | February 16, 2012, 3:26 pm 3:26 pm
she’s a lousy actress. It was so painfully plain that she was an american it just made whomever the ad represented looked absolutely stupid.
Posted by: Not UR Average Joe | February 16, 2012, 3:51 pm 3:51 pm
do Liberals think people in China speak perfect English?—- I work in the engineering fields and work with many many folks from different ethnicities, and many Chinese and whatever she was doing…not sure. But it sure was NOT a Chinese accent! Maybe if you live in red neck land and never met a Chinese person, which is probably the target audience of the add, you’d be fooled, but otherwise, it was laughable. And to be clear, we owe so much money to the Chinese, they are NOT interested in our economy faltering, or even doing badly, which would bring inflation. That would HURT them….so you know. So not only is the add stupid in it’s interpretation, this American girl with this horrible attempt at a Chinese accent, it makes no sense – it’s not true. The economy is rebounding thanks to the spending, like it or not, and China has NO interest in tanking our economy. I’m not saying they are our best buddies, or not our competition, but clearly, they may want to make money, but they definitely want us making money, and spending it, and paying them back, as well. Nothing about the add was correct. Not one thing.
Posted by: Johnny boy | February 16, 2012, 3:55 pm 3:55 pm
Hoekstra should have asked Michelle Malkin to run the ad; she probably would have done it for free and definitely would not apologize afterward.
Posted by: 100pcob | February 16, 2012, 4:41 pm 4:41 pm
The republicans are voicing concern over the threat that China poses. Therefore, the libs/dems/mainstream media will proceed to pretend that there is nothing to worry about. Just as they did with Fannie & Freddie.
Posted by: mojo | February 16, 2012, 4:48 pm 4:48 pm
It is never good to participate in something that doesn’t reflect your values, no matter how good the money looks.
Posted by: Librarian53 | February 16, 2012, 4:56 pm 4:56 pm
Johnny Boy… It is Very clear that the reason you know so much about “red neck land”, is you are their spokesperson. Why do you want to mislead the American people? “Chinese, they are NOT interested in our economy faltering”???? If we get 4 more years of Obama Care, there will be a Chinese Flag over the White House…..You, need to park your tractor long enough to see what is going on in America!!!
Posted by: Bob | February 16, 2012, 4:59 pm 4:59 pm
I feel bad for her but damn….Wasn’t the location, the script, and the broken english kind of a give away? She went to Berkeley, right?
Posted by: PhilC | February 16, 2012, 7:01 pm 7:01 pm
Isn’t this the typical politician’s way of conducting their business; exploit, use, abuse,and destroy the very meaning of truth, but also adding to our nations pangs. Ms Chan is, and I do believe a well meaning young woman, but still credulous concerning politicial hatchetmen such as Rep. Hoekstra,
and his shameless abuse of unsupecting young people. God only knows what lies have been told his constituents. Shame on him! !
Posted by: Bill | February 17, 2012, 12:56 pm 12:56 pm
It’s interesting how people say it’s not racist. Let’s do “the black test.” Let’s replace the actress with a black man with rap music in the background. Then let’s have him say he’s from the inner city, he’s wearing a do-rag and he’s using ebonics, like “Yo, Debbie Spenditnow ain’t keepin them jobs and the scrilla in my pocket, G.” Would that be racist? What, there aren’t any black men in the city who like rap music or talk that way? Or let’s replace him with a southerner with banjo music in the background wearing a straw hat and overalls. Some people just don’t get it.
Posted by: Gothamite | February 17, 2012, 2:21 pm 2:21 pm
Nothing to apologize for at all. The ad actually seems relatively accurate & i certainly wouldn’t call it racist or offensive. Its simply a fact that American jobs are sent overseas to china & that is the reason their economy flourishes. Go into walmart and look at the tags, about 90% of their product is made in china. Sad but true & i really believe any company or representative that supports sending our jobs overseas and bringing their companies here, is traitor to America and is working against our prosperity which forces us to grow more and more dependent on foreign products and resources and it must be stopped. The ad was somewhat risque but i agree with it completely
Posted by: derrick | February 19, 2012, 3:18 am 3:18 am