‘SNL’ Star Bowen Yang Addresses Megan Amram’s ‘Explicitly Anti-Asian’ Tweets

“Saturday Night Live” star Bowen Yang published a thorough Twitter thread on Sunday night about “The Good Place” producer Megan Amram’s offensive tweets from the early 2010s, which made fun of the Asian community, Jewish people and people with disabilities.

“Hello! I’ve been asked by lots of people to talk about the Megan Amram tweets which, in addition to being ableist and anti-Semitic, were explicitly anti-Asian; thematically, even,” Yang wrote.

In the thread, the comedian went on to address how the producer’s tweets were “shocking,” but not surprising. “Asians have always been one of many cheap curios in the gilt of the cabinet of Western humor,” wrote Yang.

“Some people think joking about a subordinate race is the edgiest, riskiest move there is, but I stupidly think it’s the least transgressive comedic exercise that amounts to doing a boring, warmed-over kickflip while affirming the racial hierarchy laid out by a Swedish botanist,” Yang added.

Yang, who is one of the first openly gay men to serve as a cast member on “SNL” and its first Chinese American star, also addressed how letting someone’s racist behavior “slip through” is “objectively bad, painful, and traumatizing.” He continued to note that it is everyone’s responsibility to “fight unjust systems by their own gumption.” He added that he hopes Amram really is committing herself to “fighting racist power.” “We all know people who have doubled down instead of self-examining,” Yang wrote.

The “SNL” star went on to note the lack of attention paid to President Donald Trump’s offensive comment that referred to the coronavirus as the “kung-flu” during a rally in Tulsa, Okla., over the weekend.

“I also want to end this by saying Twitter is generally a terrible platform for context and I am actively planning my suspension from it at this very moment,” he concluded.

Amram, a producer and co-writer on NBC’s “The Good Place,” apologized for posting the offensive tweets on Wednesday. In her apology she added that as her platform grew, she tried to make an effort on educating herself and supporting people of color and the LGBTQ community.

“I would like to address some tweets from over the past decade that have been circulating recently. I fear this will not convey everything that I want it to, but I am speaking from the heart and trying my best to communicate my sincere regret. I am deeply embarrassed and more apologetic than you can ever know,” wrote Amram.

She ended her statement by writing that she was sorry for the tweets and that she would “prove that every day for the rest of my life.”