fallout after Asian American Actress is misidentified at awards show
GLENDALE, Calif. — It was supposed to be a night of celebration. Jully Lee and her boyfriend Howard Ho were eagerly watching Tuesday night’s Ovation Awards. It was Lee’s first nomination and she was being recognized for her performance in Hannah and the Dread Gazebo — a play that featured an entirely Asian American company.
But when her category came around, she stared at the screen, stunned, as her name was mispronounced and her castmate’s face appeared in place of her own.
Nominated actress Jully Lee's name was mispronounced and her photo replaced by another Asian American actress
East West Players revoked their membership, followed by Center Theatre Group and A Noise Within
LA Stage Alliance apologized to Lee on social media and in a private email
LASA person responsible for the error is no longer with the company
“Two different people,” Ho pointed out. “Two different people who look nothing alike,” Lee added.
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And not just for her. The aftershocks of that error were felt throughout the community.
People immediately began posting on social media and flooding Lee’s phone with messages of support. She stayed up most of the night responding to each message, from friends, actors, and complete strangers alike. It made her realize, this wasn’t really about her. This was something bigger.
“That mistake, that blunder, represented the pain of all of us that we experience when our faces are switched, our names are mispronounced,” she said, sitting in a park near her Glendale home. “People just don’t take the care and consideration to see us as human beings that have feelings and lives and opinions and thoughts.”
https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/entertainment/2021/04/01/several-companies-exit-la-stage-alliance-after-asian-american-nominee-is-misidentified
An Asian actor got disrespected at L.A. theater awards. What happened next was swift and powerful
When it happened, those watching couldn't quite believe what they had just seen and heard. During the Ovation Awards for local theater Tuesday night, a nominee in the category of featured actress in a play had her name mispronounced — and when her face was supposed to appear onscreen, the photo of a fellow Asian American cast member popped up instead.
Jully Lee saw a picture of a woman who was not her, and she was stunned. Her first response was to laugh. She didn't even realize her name had been mispronounced too until the incident began boiling over on social media. "Oh no, that too?" thought Lee, who was nominated for her work in "Hannah and the Dread Gazebo," a co-presentation of East West Players and the Fountain Theatre.
Lee's first name has been mispronounced for much of her life, so this was not new, she said in an interview. But she knew in her heart that this was a sign of a bigger problem.
https://news.yahoo.com/asian-actor-got-disrespected-l-003931222.html