Master of None's Emmy win for Writing for a Comedy Series was a big accomplishment for the Netflix show, and writer Alan Yang took a moment in his acceptance speech to make a powerful statement about representation in media.
After thanking his collaborators and the show's star and writer Aziz Ansari, Yang highlighted a glaring disparity in Hollywood. He questioned which races are portrayed with nuanced characters on screen.
"There's 17 million Asian Americans in this country, and there's 17 million Italian Americans. They have The Godfather, Goodfellas, Rocky, The Sopranos. We got Long Duck Dong," Yang said, referencing the cartoonish character from Sixteen Candles played by Gedde Watanabe.
"We have a long way to go. But I know we can get there. I believe in us, it's just gonna take a lot of hard work," he continued. The writer ended his speech with a cute joke: "Asian parents out there, if you could just do me a favor: If just a couple of you can get your kids cameras instead of violins, we'll be all good."
After Yang finished, Aziz stepped up to the mic but bailed at the last minute when the pair got played off stage.
The Master of None writers won for the episode "Parents," about two first-generation Americans — Dev (Ansari) and his friend Brian (Kelvin Yu) — asking their parents about their experiences before coming to the United States.
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