C4 show 'Banzai' is demeaning to Japanese, says US
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Your support makes all the difference.Banzai, Channel 4's spoof Japanese game show, is at the centre of controversy in America over claims that it demeans Asian people.
Media workers protested in Hollywood after the first American showing of the programme, which invited audiences to guess the outcome of a series of silly stunts.
Guy Aoki, co-founder of the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans, said: "This is like an Asian minstrel show. Can you imagine the black version of Banzai?" About 20 members of the group carried placards and protested as Fox television showed the programme to television critics.
Earlier this month, Fox pulled a season of Charlie Chan mystery movies. The films were showing on the Fox Movie Channel on cable TV but a notice on the Fox website said they had been stopped after the "sensitive" nature of the films was pointed out by viewers.
Fox has defended Banzai and said it had received comments praising it. Scott Grogin, a spokesman for Fox, said: "It's a satire, a parody of Japanese game shows. It's very tongue-in-cheek and should not be viewed as anything but."
The stars of Banzai are Mr Cheeky Chappie (Peter Chong), Mr Banzai Man (Masashi Fujimoto) and Mr Shakey Hands Man (Tadao Tomomatsu). Channel 4 said there had not been any objections in Britain, where it is on its third series. It pointed out that the Fox version would have been formatted for an American audience.
Mr Aoki maintained that it "demeans and stereotypes" Asian-American people. He said his group had held two meetings with the Fox network about Banzai, asking for it not to be broadcast. Fox had indicated that if Banzai returned for another series, a disclaimer could be shown at the beginning of the show - but Mr Aoki said this would not be enough to meet his group's concerns.
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