Asian-American group in protest at public screening of 'racist' Breakfast At Tiffany's

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated:

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It's an American classic - with Audrey Hepburn oozing style in the romantic comedy Breakfast At Tiffany's.

But an Asian-American group is protesting at plans to show it in New York in August because they say Mick Rooney's portrayal of a Japanese man in the film is racist and offensive.

The 1961 movie is being shown as part of the Park Conservancy’s free outdoor Movies With A View series, which is funded by both the city and the SyFy network.

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Funny or offensive? Mickey Roony as the angry Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast At Tiffany's

Funny or offensive? Mickey Roony as the angry Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast At Tiffany's

Rooney's Mr Yunioshi is a buck-toothed, bumbling bespectacled man who struggles with the name Holly Golightly in an exaggerated accent.

Rooney's depiction of an Asian man has been variously described as 'comedic' to 'broadly exotic' to 'overtly racist' and a 'cringe-inducing stereotype' by critics over the years.

Now a Bronx woman, Ursula Liang, has started an online petition against the screening of the film.

She said: 'By screening this film, the organizers are sanctioning the racism it contains, and subjecting new audiences (including children and Asian-Americans) to a minstrel show of racist ideology.

Epitome of style: Audrey Hepburn took the lead role as a New York socialite in the 1961 movie

Epitome of style: Audrey Hepburn took the lead role as a New York socialite in the 1961 movie

'It’s 2011. It’s New York. Do we still have to fight the hostile, hurtful world of 1961 Hollywood?'

The petition so far as got over 200 signatures, the New York Post reports.

Miss Liang noted on the petition’s website that she had reached out to both Borough President Marty Markowitz and Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D-Brooklyn), whose staff said they’ve passed on the petitioners’ concerns to the Conservancy.

Nancy Webster, executive director of the conservancy, said the show would go on, adding 'we recognise' Rooney’s character is inappropriate but it was 'a product of the times.'

The films are being aired in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Bumbling: Mr Yunioshi hits his head on a lampshade as he gets out of bed

Bumbling: Mr Yunioshi hits his head on a lampshade as he gets out of bed

Regina Myer, who heads the city’s Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., said her agency 'recognizes that one character in the Breakfast At Tiffany’s movie is an offensive stereotype, but this does not negate the value of the film as an American classic.'

In audio commentary for the movie’s 45th anniversary DVD released five years ago, producer Richard Shepherd and director Blake Edwards both confided that they wished Mr. Yunioshi would’ve been played by an authentic Japanese actor.

After the film was pulled from the Ratatouille film festival in California in 2008 following complaints that it was racist, a saddened Rooney said the criticism 'breaks my heart.'

He said: 'They hired me to do this overboard, and we had fun doing it.

'Never in all the more than 40 years after we made it — not one complaint.

'Every place I’ve gone in the world people say, "God, you were so funny."

'Asians and Chinese come up to me and say, "Mickey you were out of this world".'

 


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