A-pop! APIs in popular culture!
By Stacy Nguyen
Northwest Asian Weekly
In this Nov. 21, 2017 file photo, actor-comedian Kumail Nanjiani poses at his home in Los Angeles. Nanjiani stars in the new Netflix comedy “Lovebirds,” with Issa Rae. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
It is often disorienting for me to report that celebrities are behaving really reasonably and almost boringly human. I think it’s because my brain has been pickled with too much reality TV? In any case, this column features adults acting like adults. I am scared with optimism for the future, too!
Nanjiani is going full Steve Carrell
Did y’all know that Chippendales, the hottest male revue show in Las Vegas, was founded by Indian American entrepreneur Somen “Steve” Banerjee? Okay, well that’s not even the wildest part of the story. Banerjee was also guilty of murdering a man he considered a competitor and rival.
Why am I taking you on this grisly trip down memory lane? Because actor Kumail Nanjiani is slated to portray Banerjee in the upcoming Hulu limited series, “Welcome to Chippendales.” (Notably, fellow non-white dudes Rajiv Joseph and Mehar Sethi are writers of this series!)
I am excited for Nanjiani’s continuing turn into more dramatic roles. I am excited for another true crime miniseries (because I am totally that person). And I am excited for all of the 80s period costumes—and the hair! All of the luxurious hair!
There’s no air date for this series yet, but it will probably come out sometime in 2023.
Minaj is on top for ‘Super Freaky’
Nicki Minaj has accomplished something pretty impressive. Her latest single, “Super Freaky Girl,” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first solo female rap artist to do so since 1998. (The last time this was accomplished was by Lauryn Hill for her song, “Doo Wop (That Thing)”). “Super Freaky Girl” samples Rick James’ 1981 hit, “Super Freak.”
Fun fact: Minaj’s birth name is Onika Tanya Maraj. Her dad was Indo-Trinidadian, and her mom is Afro-Trinidadian.
Thing I learned today: Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians are the largest ethnic group in Trinidad and Tobago, which are known for the prominence of African and Indian cultures because—brace yourself for some terrible history—after people of African descent were legally emancipated in the mid 1800s, Britain still needed labor for its colony, so it created a new-at-the-time system of indentureship and Indians were “imported” to the colony to work on sugarcane plantations.
Jamil hurt her butt hole on the set of ‘She-Hulk’
Actor Jameela Jamil recently confessed to Entertainment Weekly that in the course of doing stunt work in her role as the villainous Titania in “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” she pulled a muscle in a NSFW area. Here’s a quote from her:
“Like, you’ll probably have to bleep this out, but I pulled a muscle in my a**hole! I didn’t know that was possible!”
You might be like: “Stacy, why do I need to know this?”
Because it’s actually pretty cool and meaningful that Jamil is doing stunts in this action role, as she has spoken up about being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a rare connective tissue-related disease that can exhibit in many oblique and distressing ways. Because it’s rare, it’s often misdiagnosed and people with it can experience negative psychological effects from not being believed by doctors.
Jamil said that the folks working on “She Hulk” accommodated and supported her around her disability instead of downgrading her role. Snaps!
Thus, pulled butt hole muscle is something beautifully earned.
Patel acts like anyone else, witnesses crime, cooperates with law enforcement
Actor Dev Patel was in Adelaide, Australia when he witnessed two people—a man and a woman—arguing, which escalated to fighting, which escalated to the women stabbing the man in the chest (the man survived the attack). Yikes. Most news outlets don’t mention this, but reading in between the lines, these folks may have been in some sort of mental health crisis when this happened.
Reportedly, Dev Patel and his friends intervened and tried to de-escalate the situation. They remained on-site and spoke to police when they arrived.
I think those are the facts of what happened? It was actually hard to pick out the facts because most reporting on this had headlines bombastically saying that Patel single-handedly and heroically leapt into action and saved a man’s life. That’s a nice story, right?
But that’s not the story that we should be focusing on. A rep for Patel wanted to dispel the editorialized fairytale quickly. A statement was released to the press saying, “There are no heroes in this situation and sadly this specific incident highlights a larger systemic issue of marginalized members of society not being treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. The hope is that the same level of media attention this story is receiving (solely because Dev, as a famous person, was involved) can be a catalyst for lawmakers to be compassionate in determining long-term solutions to help not only the individuals who were involved but the community at large.”
Tyga offends despite having good intentions, apologizes
Here’s another story in which a celeb acts like a reasonable, thoughtful person.
Last month, rapper Tyga dropped a music video for his new song, “Ay Caramba.” The video showcased a Mexican dude eating tortilla chips, Tyga in various sombreros, and a dude in a lowrider.
BTW, Tyga is Black and Vietnamese. (His birth name is Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson.)
And it’s hard for me to fully describe this video because Tyga has taken it down and has erased it off the internet after he heard criticisms from Mexican Americans on how busted they think this video is. This is after he reportedly paid $250,000 of his own money to make this music video.
About causing offense, Tyga told the Los Angeles Times, “My art is never meant to offend anybody. My art and the music brings people together.”
What a mature way to respond.
This week, Tyga released a new music video for “Sunshine,” one that features zero tortilla chips. Instead, it does feature fellow API artist Jhené Aiko!
Stacy Nguyen can be reached at stacy@nwasianweekly.com.