Philippine consul general condemns Hong Kong television drama portrayal of Filipino woman ‘totally disgusting’
- Consul General Raly Tejada criticises TVB for use of ‘brownface’ to portray domestic helper, says broadcaster reinforcing negative stereotypes
- TVB takes down two-part subseries from website, promises to amend content before uploading
The Philippine envoy to Hong Kong has called a local television drama “totally disgusting” for featuring a Chinese actress who darkened her skin to portray a domestic helper, as TVB said it will amend the content before uploading it online.
Consul General Raly Tejada criticised the free-to-air television station one day after the broadcaster said it never intended to disrespect or to discriminate against any nationality and praised the actress’ “professional” performing techniques in response to public backlash.
“The show is downright ignorant, insensitive and totally disgusting,” Tejada said in a reply to the Post on Thursday. “It’s a non-apology. Just shows their insensitivity and callous disregard even when people are hurting from this negative portrayal of a Filipino helper.”
He said the portrayal of the character and use of “brownface”, where a light-skinned individual attempts to portray a person of colour or marginalised group by using make-up to darken their skin, reinforced negative stereotypes of Ban Mui, an offensive Cantonese term frequently used to describe Filipino women.
“Recent world events should have taught TVB that it is unacceptable to assign a corresponding social value to a particular race. No one has the right to mock and ridicule anyone based on their race and ethnicity,” he added.
A petition was also launched on Thursday evening to demand a public apology from the producers and actress, as well as reshooting the scenes with better representations.
