On the Menu | Storm in a bubble tea cup? Marvel star calls cultural appropriation on Canadian brand
Simu Liu made a strong point, but he deserves respect for calling on the online community not to harass drinks brand Bobba’s founders
Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu, best known for playing the Marvel character Shang Chi, has just shown that not all superheroes wear capes.
Liu recently appeared on the Canadian reality show Dragon’s Den, a competition where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors known as the Dragons (there is a similar show called Shark Tank).
For Sebastien Fiset and Jess Frenette, founders of Quebec-based drinks brand Bobba, it turned into a trial by fire. Their pitch for a “healthier” spin on bubble tea described existing products on the market as “trendy” and “sugary”, and even suggested that consumers “are never quite sure about its content”, which did not sit well with Liu.
While the other Dragons – including investor Manjit Minhas, who is in the drinks business – seemed interested in the product, the Hollywood actor quickly began his line of questioning by addressing the elephant in the room: cultural appropriation.
He noted that the packaging did not make any reference to the Taiwanese origins of bubble tea, and that he also did not like the founders’ pitch that they would be “taking something that’s very distinctly Asian in its identity and, quote unquote, making it better”.
