Salt Lake City Station Apologizes for Racist Behavior

On KSL’s (Salt Lake City) morning newscast, the station showed a dance group that featured a group of white women wearing Chinese silk dresses and Asian conical hats, hands folded in front of them, bowed, hopped and made exaggerated gestures.

The Salt Lake Tribune writes that It looked like at least some of them were wearing eye makeup in an attempt to look Asian. But their behavior is in no way a tribute to Asian culture; it was stereotypical and mocking.

The clip is shockingly racist. There’s just no other way to interpret it.

When a viewer called out the station on Twitter, KSL responded with an apology:

KSL GM Tanya Vea said the dancers appeared in a segment “on upcoming Christmas festivities at City Creek.” The dancers were there to perform their number from “ReduxNut-Cracker,” which happened a bit later in the newscast. An Odyssey spokeswoman confirmed that the bowing and hopping seen in the clip are not part of the choreography; the women do appear in the costumes.

No word if the station knew what the dancers were planning?

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