A controversy bubbled up over the weekend for boba tea company Bobba.
The Montreal-based startup appeared on Dragon’s Den—Canada’s equivalent of Shark Tank—to pitch their ready-to-drink teas and popping pearls but faced criticism from actor Simu Liu. Business owner Sebastien Fiset aimed to secure a CAD$1 million investment by describing the popular drink as “that trendy, sugary drink you wait in line for, never quite sure what’s in it.”
Liu, who is the show’s first Chinese-Canadian “Dragon,” called out Bobba for trying to “disrupt bubble tea,” and highlighted the issue of cultural appropriation.
Simu Liu
“There’s an issue of taking something that’s very distinctly Asian in its identity and quote-unquote ‘making it better’’ which I have an issue with,” he said.
Fiset claimed that bubble tea is not an “ethnical” product anymore.
“You know, I started [my] venture company for a lot of reasons, but really, primarily to uplift minority entrepreneurs,” Liu explained.
“And not only do I feel like this is not happening here, but that I would be uplifting a business that is profiting off of something that feels so dear to my cultural heritage. I want to be a part of bringing boba to the masses, but not like this.
The video went wild on TikTok, grabbing more than 7.1 million views and thousands of comments disparaging the business owners. So much so that Liu came out with his own TikTok telling people to back off.
“First and foremost, I think we hit on a really important cultural conversation,” he says.
“On the flipside… I just want to say that, full-stop, it’s never OK to make threats, it’s never OK to bully and harass online.”