When I blogged about the racist scene in "The Goods" on August 14th as the film was opening, I was told by publicists for Paramount Pictures that I was the only journalist in America who had raised the issue with them. Really, I thought? How can that be? 

The scene is so terribly racist--using the term "Jap" for a punch line and having auto salesmen beat up an Asian man for a laugh in a scene reminiscent of the real-life beating death in 1982 of Chinese-American Vincent Chin by out of work American auto workers. Critics in the mainstream media wouldn't let Paramount get away with using the "n" word or lynchings as punch lines would they? So why did Paramount get a pass from critics from mainstream media outlets who screened the film ahead of its release when "Jap" and the beating of an Asian man were used as punch lines in not just the film, but the trailer for the film?

On Sunday evening, I'll be riding in the 69th Annual Nisei Week Japanese Festival as the parade marshal. I am the son of a Japanese mother and a caucasian father and I was raised to be proud of my heritage from both sides of my family. So--as corny as it may sound--it'll be a nice moment for my parents when they see their son being honored in the parade.

Maybe that's why I'm particularly upset about a film from Paramount Vantage that's coming out this weekend (just as Nisei Week is getting underway) called "The Goods." I haven't seen the film but I have seen a trailer that contains a scene of racism the filmmakers use for laughs. It may indeed make you laugh, but it isn't funny at all. It's offensive. And yes, racist, in my opinion, and by definition. The Anti-Defamation League, for example, defines racism as "the belief that another person is less than human--because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any other factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person." The definition certainly applies to the way an Asian character is disparaged in the trailer. I won't share the clip here because I don't want to give the film a free commercial but here's the part that bothered me the most.

Jeremy Piven plays a used car salesman who is trying to save a failing automobile dealership. In the preview trailer, he gives his sales team a pep talk that includes the following monologue:

"Don't get me started on Pearl Harbor--the Japs, flying in low and fast--We are the Americans and they are the enemy!" An Asian character (who isn't Japanese), "Teddy Dang," played by Ken Jeong, becomes noticeably uncomfortable as the mob becomes heated. The sales team yells: "Never again!" followed by one character who screams: "Let's get him!" The mob then sets upon Dang, beating him until Piven's character tells them to stop. That's when Piven's character says: "We have all just participated in a hate crime. Let's get our stories straight (for when we get arrested). Dan came at us with a samurai sword, fire extinguisher and Chinese throwing stars." 

This is where you're supposed to laugh if you think using a racial slur like "Jap" during the course of a hate crime is funny and if you think blaming every Asian male for Pearl Harbor and then beating him for it is hilarious. The truth is it's as unfunny as it would be to call an African American the "n" word for comedic effect or using an anti-Semitic slur against a Jewish person for giggles.

The clip was brought to my attention by Guy Aoki, a longtime Hollywood watchdog who is the founding president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans. In a statement issued to KTLA, Aoki pointed out why this sort of racism is particularly harmful.

"Japanese Americans-and Asian Americans in general-have always been blamed for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As a result of racial hysteria, 120,000 Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps for three years for simply being the wrong ethnicity. Ever since then, (American) children (of Japanese descent) have dreaded going to school on December 7th, 'Pearl Harbor Day,' because they would be taunted and attacked for being of Japanese ancestry, making them somehow responsible for the death of thousands of U.S. servicemen. What makes the scene (in the trailer) more chilling is that it takes place in an auto dealership. In 1982, on the night of his bachelor party, Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two out of work Detroit auto-workers who blamed the problems of the American automobile industry on the success of Japanese imports. Chin died five days before his wedding day. His last words were, 'It's not fair.'"

Patti Rockenwagner, executive vice president for corporate communications for Paramount told me the trailer I watched was for on-line use for adults only and she conceded the racist comments and actions, taken out of context, should be considered "completely unacceptable." But in the context of an "outrageous satirical comedy," Rockenwagner told me, it should be taken as an attempt at humor by the filmmakers. 

In an official statement she said: "This film is an R-rated comedy that satirizes and exaggerates the extremes of the sales and celebrity culture. We understand that when taken out of context, jokes and situations in the movie about a variety of topics might be offensive to some people. To be very clear, "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" is in no way meant to be mean-spirited, disparaging or hurtful to any individuals and we regret any offense taken." 

In other words, because many people are disparaged in this film, no one group of people should take any of it personally or seriously. Ridiculous. Humor is not an acceptable excuse for racism. Could the film's director (Neal Brennan) and screenwriters (Andy Stock and Rick Stempson) and Mr. Piven stand before an audience of Japanese Americans and say with straight faces that the scene isn't racist? Could they explain to Vincent Chin's family how this scene is funny? 

Where were the gatekeepers at Paramount Pictures and Viacom through all of this? Why should Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans continue to watch your films and your TV programs on Viacom networks like MTV and BET and Nickelodeon when they think top executives at Paramount and Viacom are either so insensitive or so ignorant that they would let this stuff get to the big screen? 

I'm not a comedian and I get it that humor sometimes makes us uncomfortable or pushes the boundaries of acceptable. In my opinion, this crossed the line. It's not O.K. to call someone a "Jap" for a laugh.