Is Henry Golding "Asian enough"?

I saw Malaysians and Singaporeans basically lashed out against an American on Twitter for stating Golding is white passing since he's half white which is the reason why he even got the role. Thing is he doesn't actually look white, he looks exactly like your local South East Asian person and I am saying this as someone from the SEA. Then there is Simu Liu who stated that he lost the Nick Young role because he doesn't have the "It" factor which reminded me on Brenda Song who whined that they didn't even call her to audition. Seems like the director Jon M Chu, who is Asian American of Chinese heritage, didn't think Liu or Song is good for the role and that's about it.

But I am curious, especially those in the west, does Golding like not look Asian enough for you?

Quote from dummi

who died and made us the judges of Asian-ness tho? the dude does not look white to me tbh. I don't think most Americans would view him as white, people on Twitter are crazy and eager to prove that they're hip and cool, and that they are social activists sticking it to the man ☠️☠️☠️

It did however brought most of the South East Asians to twitter to defend Golding. Like 1000 qrt bashing the US's limited view on what Asians are.

Quote from dummi

You should know something, here in the states if you are mixed, white with another ethnicity, you are automatically not considered white socially. This is also called the one drop rule (this rule was specifically made by racists back during slavery to say that one drop of black dna in a sea of white means you are black) and it extends to all ethnic backgrounds from what Ive seen. Americans on twitter really fail to convey an accurate rep of sociological tendencies here

But its the reverse for Golding's case. He's mixed, doesn't look white but because of his half white, he is considered white immediately.

Quote from zuzuhhaa

bruh this is so fucking stupid what do you mean "asian enough"

Read my Opening for context.

Quote from dummi

Yes and what I'm saying is that this is not something that most people here think. This is the reverse of the one drop rule and its usually seen in Brazil. Im trying to say that the people saying that are the minority and most Americans wouldn't agree

Well what is sad is that the person who said Golding is not Asian enough is also a minority themselves.

Quote from alexS

look Asian enough?

That's a dumb take on race.

And in life in general

Thus why I am curious on how the west actually viewed Asians.

Quote from superyeah

It's in the context of representation. It's a constant topic of discussion when a person of color, who may be biracial or looks racially ambiguous, takes on a representative role. Some have concerns that the person was only chosen because he or she is white-passing.

The locals in Singapore and Malaysia only knew Golding's dad is white when his dad made an appearance in his social media. We thought he was just an Asian Iban raised in the UK. So I dunno how he out of all people could be white passing when even the locals see him as just Asian.

Quote from alexS

As somebody who had no idea who he is, he does look asian to me.

I guess he takes after his mom?

Probably, he's like really "local vibe" until he speaks in his English Accent. Which is not far from truth since many local parents here send their kids to the UK and gets a British version of them when they came back. Golding is from an indegenious tribe in Malaysia. And he also basically left the UK when he's of age and went around a year in Sarawak Malaysia going through the rite of way of his tribe. He even was awarded tribal tattoos, cementing his ground as an Asian more than anything. Its another reason why Malaysian and Singaporeans defended his "Asianess", its because Golding is more than proud of his own race.

Quote from superyeah

I have to correct you on this. Simu didn't audition for the Nick Young, main male lead, role. He auditioned for multiple supporting roles, such as the best friend of Goulding's character and the husband of Gemma Chan's character. He didn't get any of those roles.

Simu's recent comments definitely opened up an interesting discussion about the casting decisions for that film, though.

The person who plays Gemma Chan's husband is Pierre Png, an actual Singaporean. So its actually better to cast a Singaporean than a Canadian for a Singaporean role.

Golding's best friend was Chris Pang who is Chinese Australian, but again, that just means Jon M Chu prefers Chris rather than Simu Liu. Similar to Brenda Song whining that Jon didn't ask her to audition as if it was a race problem in the casting (it was an open casting call) and its not like she lost the role to another race. But like acting wise, any director would have chosen Constance Wu.

Quote from zuzuhhaa

i did, my point still stands. half or full, he's asian, end of discussion. people who say you're not enough of this or that annoy the fuck out of me

Just so you know I am not the one stating that Henry Golding is not Asian enough.