https://twitter.com/YeahTeriq/status/990717285663821824
Despite Issa Rae’s comedy ties, fans aren’t taking kindly to a resurfaced passage from her 2015 book, “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” about Black women dating Asian men.
After discussing how stereotypes about Asian men and Black women result in poor dating prospects for both, Rae writes, “This is why I propose Black women and Asian men join forces in love, marriage and procreation. Educated Black women, what better intellectual match for you than an Asain man? And I’m not talking about Filipinos; they’re like the Blacks of Asians.”
The passage went viral Sunday, April 29 and drew a mixed reaction from Twitter users.
“Black men already doing it lol she just telling Black women stop being scared to go outside of race,” one woman rationalized. “Statistically, BW are way less likely to date outside they race & will remain single til death while BM are the opposite & won’t hesitate.”
“Only suburban n—-s and athletes act like this,” the original poster said in response.
“This woman is dumb. She’s the one making Black women look horrible,” another said.
“Is it satire?” someone else wondered.
However, Rae has addressed the remarks three years ago at the time of the book’s release.
“I say that Black women and Asian men are at the bottom of the dating totem pole,” Rae explained on “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.” “It’s true—ask around. Go to Match.com, go to anywhere, and you’ll see the ‘least chosen’ is Raquonda and Lee.
“This is speaking from my own college experience, my girlfriends and I would find that the pool of guys was so limited,” she continued. “They knew that they were a catch. They knew that they were educated. They weren’t in jail [and] they didn’t have kids. So, they were like: ‘We have options’…That made it unappealing. It felt isolated.”
But this didn’t stop fans from voicing their opinion.
“Knowing Issa Rae, you’re probably supposed to read this satirically,” another said. “Her style has always been subtle sarcasm/satire…ever since I’ve known her on [her YouTube series] ‘Awkward Black Girl.'”
“I’m tired of the Black male slander……. Issa Rae is kind of canceled,” someone said.
“Man @IssaRae extra canceled, a person in her position can’t say stuff so negative and destructive to her own race …s— is not satire,” another said. [Black women] will make decisions off that bulls—.”
“Issa Rae canceled,” said another echoing those sentiments.I’m literally shaking rn.”
Others maintained the star of HBO’s “Insecure” would not be canceled.
Do not let the tiki torched propaganda machine get you tight over a satirical statement Issa Rae made in a 3 yr.o book.
I knew they would try this mess the minute she said "I'm rooting for everybody black."
Issa Rae is not canceled.#next #tryagain pic.twitter.com/zJytNcFfkY
— Melanin Monroe (@qarriebradshaw) April 30, 2018
Issa Rae is not and will never be canceled. Carry on… pic.twitter.com/8HMxVL5kxF
— ya favorite auntie. (@iammissfaye) April 30, 2018
“LOL it’s soooo out of context though — this is from her book,” another Twitter user said. “This chapter mostly read like comedy, zero attempts at self-help/advice column. Y’all are reaching 😩.”
— Lando Saucerissian (@jay_murph2099) April 29, 2018
