Who is AWKWAFINA?
Recently there has been a lot of controversy over Awkwafina leaving twitter due to being called out for her misappropriating use of a blaccent. Awkwafina is a 33 year old Asian-American Actress and Comedian from Queens, New York City, New York. She is best known for her roles in “Ocean’s 8“, “Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings“, “Crazy Rich Asians” and also as Writer and Executive Producer of “Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens” as Nora, a fictionalized version of herself. She went viral from a Youtube video in 2012 and has continued her rise in fame ever since.
WHat is a blaccent?
Although she has received recognition for playing roles in which she breaks boundaries by not playing the common Asian stereotypes, people within the African-American community have noticed that she does in fact perpetuate other stereotypes. Somewhere along the line, Awkwafina has adopted a “blaccent”, which those in the African American community have spoken about for years before this recent controversy. The definition of a blaccent is “Blaccent, a blend of black and accent, is the imitation of Black English by non-black people. She has stated that she created the persona of “Awkwafina”, her real name being Nora Lum, to represent the “repressed” version of herself. Many people believe that she created the name based off of traditional unique names in the African American culture. In an interview during the “Shang-Chi” press tours, “When asked about the blaccent, Awkwafina shared that she grew up in a multicultural environment in the New York City borough of Queens. Still, she acknowledged that it’s a conversation she is willing to have. And in her latest role, she hasn’t relied on these stereotypes. But in the series based on her upbringing, there are no Black people.” It is a shame that her career is. based on a caricature of a marginalized group of people and with her being a WOC she should understand the issue with cherry picking parts you want of someone else’s culture. Now that she has achieved a certain level of fame the blaccent has become less prominent and this contributes to the idea that she was using African American culture for her personal gain, while being quick to discard it when it no longer serves a purpose for her.
Notes app apology and Lack of accountability
To those who don’t know what a “notes app apology” is, it is an apology posted on social media by a celebrity or influencer, that is usually typed out on the iPhone notes app and most of the time it is perceived to be insincere. Awkwafina’s apology seems the most insincere due to the fact that there were four pages of non-apologies. Here’s the tweet that was posted. Awkwafina has continued to make choices that benefited her career at the expense of black people. She recently received a nomination for the NAACP Image awards for her role in “Raya and the Last Dragon“, which was the spark of the most recent discourse on Awkwafina’s personal character. Not only does she refuse to acknowledge how her actions harm the African American community, but now she is taking up space in a community that does not belong to her. Her use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and culture appropriation was not addressed in the statement sent out via twitter, and the whole thing came off as half-hearted and misguided. Nora basically said a whole lot of nothing that did not include one “I apologize” or a simple “I’m sorry”. She has continued to victimize herself without taking accountability for culture appropriating and to follow that she has nonblack poc and white people reassuring her under the tweet and she’s liking those tweets that justify her misappropriating use of black culture.
how can she recover from this?
Awkwafina has already received acceptances for her non apology, although they were not from those in the community that she should have been apologizing to in the first place. I’m not sure if there is a way that she can be seen as anything other than a person who used AAVE to become famous and discarding her blaccent once she gained the level of stardom that she wished to achieve, but I know that she still needs to take accountability for her actions instead of running away from it via twitter retirement. Addressing the issue and acknowledging how you harmed others is the first step in apologizing and looking toward those whom you have harmed to make amends and ask for forgiveness is the only acceptable way to come back from this situation. While the apology may not be met with acceptance it can only be used as an example for future reference when a celebrity or influencer decides to offend a whole community of people. This experience goes to show you that with more empathy and understanding in the world the more we can relate to different perspectives and respect each others cultures without appropriation.