White guys in turbans

More white guys in badly-tied turbans, no beards, speaking in that bad simulacrum of a non-existent accent, folding their hands and calling each other Akmed, wearing nametags that say ‘Singh.’ That’s Scott LaRose with a very complicit Art Malik on the left (thanks, BB).

It’s like an entire generation modeled their insulting stereotypes on Peter Sellers. And, like Bollywood, TV and film for black audiences tend to be even more casually racist about desis and East Asians than mainstream media.

But then you should never take a movie like Booty Call (1997) seriously, not even in reruns It’s got characters named Lysterine, Yoyo, Ug Lee and Bunz.

Watch the clip (12MB; you need a BitTorrent downloader: Windows, Mac).

Related posts: Peter Sellers still outsells actual desis, Giants, dwarves and lemurs, Goodness gracious, Peter Sellers is alive, Mr. Birdie Num-Num gets a biopic, ”The Party” remake

20 thoughts on “White guys in turbans

  1. There is a movie called Partition starring Jimi Mistry as a Sardarji – a Sikh-Muslim love affair in partition kind of thing, same storyline as Gadar and Shaheed-e-Mohabbat. Strange thing is there is a white actress playing the Pakistani girl.

    It doesnt look too bad – Jimi Mistry looks really good in the role and even though it is in English, it’s not that cringemaking and most of all it doesnt come out as caricaturing anyone.

    You can see the trailer here.

  2. Jay, how can you not know Kristin Kreuk?! She’s the hottest thing to emerge from the unpleasant world of American teen TV. Yeah, in your face Mischa Barton, put on some weight! Accessorise isn’t as big as Neutrogena (is it?)

    Anyway, she’s always high on my aren’t half-Asian-half-white girls hot list; she’s half Indonesian-Chinese and half Dutch. Eurasian is such a dorky word.

    flavorflav (what time is it?) I find that the worst offenders for doing brown wrong ARE brown, cos they should know better. There seem to be no shortage of brown actors portraying some jackass depiction of a desi in the States – as often highlighted on here.

  3. Bong Breaker

    I just hit 30 and teen programmes just pass me by these days!

    Maybe I need to stay in and watch E4 more often.

  4. Hey, I know 40+s who watch the O.C. They are, admittedly, idiots. Smallville is my guilty secret. In between Horizon, the news, Radio 4 and More4…I do like a bit of Lana and Lois.

  5. ignoring the turban for a moment, scott laRose looks like a really BIG dork in that pic. What exactly, is soooo cool about mocking other nationalities? i mean, grew up with my grandparents hearing all kindsa names being tossed at them, and then telling us about it, but it wasn’t cool when they were young, and it’s even worse now.

  6. I love Kristin Kreuk, but I hate it when people fetishize Half-Asian-half-white chicks. Especially when Indians do it, because it’s SO WRONG. Then, it’s usually the same Indian men who get mad when some white guy fetishizes their sister/female-cousin. Seriously! You guys should know better!

  7. Um, how do you define ‘fetishizing’ demondoll? Saying they’re attractive? Why is it particularly wrong when Indians do it? Are you suggesting that Indians belong in a different category to other nationalities, or is this some sort of complex? Is it ok for half-Asian half-white people to fetishize other half-Asian half-white people, or is that even more inexcusable? Again, what constitutes a white guy fetishizing one’s sister or cousin?

    In short, what are you talking about?

  8. I hate it when people fetishize Half-Asian-half-white chicks. Especially when Indians do it, because it’s SO WRONG. Then, it’s usually the same Indian men who get mad when some white guy fetishizes their sister/female-cousin. Seriously! You guys should know better!

    i dislike when anyone is really fetishized – in other words, oohhhhhh they are like sooooo this and that because they are…..that’s fetishizing. admittedly, most if not all nationalities do it about another. people should not be drooled over because they have a certain look, or because they’re this or that, they should appreciated for being really great people, and not turned to ‘sex symbols’.

  9. i dislike when anyone is really fetishized – in other words, oohhhhhh they are like sooooo this and that because they are…

    So I assume we’ll never hear you say that Sikh men are hot ever again?

  10. So I assume we’ll never hear you say that Sikh men are hot ever again?

    umm…no, but you’ll also hear me mention that they are hot for more than just physical reasons, as well as the fact that others are as well.

  11. Problem is, KK cast as the “muzzlum refugee” (yes, I watched the trailer) promotes the idea that Pakistani people are white and Indians are brown, and implicitly offers alternative explanations for ongoing confusion expressed in US policy.

  12. Problem is, KK cast as the “muzzlum refugee” (yes, I watched the trailer) promotes the idea that Pakistani people are white and Indians are brown, and implicitly offers alternative explanations for ongoing confusion expressed in US policy.”
    Wow, it took 14 posts for someone to come up with a bizzare discrimination theory on SM! It must be a weekend!

  13. i dislike when anyone is really fetishized – in other words, oohhhhhh they are like sooooo this and that because they are…
    So I assume we’ll never hear you say that Sikh men are hot ever again?

    Nah, we’re all great men. Fetishize away!

  14. Nah, we’re all great men. Fetishize away!

    mmm thanks for that literary liscence! besides, in that case, it’s not fetishizing, it honouring, you wonderful, cute, wise billas! 😉

  15. it’s not fetishizing, it honouring

    Excellent, next time I’m arrested with my pants around my ankles looking through my female neighbour’s window, I have a defence. “I was honouring, HONOURING!”

  16. Excellent, next time I’m arrested with my pants around my ankles looking through my female neighbour’s window, I have a defence. “I was honouring, HONOURING!”

    ah! i didn’t say i needed to muck about innapropriately whilst giving proper credit to fine sardars. for that, my story would hold up far better in court!

  17. Amrita what the hell are you talking about? Us Pakistanis nd u Indians are all the same people who jus moved to separate lands because of our religion. Im as brown as u get. one of my cousins in fact could almost be called black! But White? R u mad!