Steve Park recalls writing an open letter for better treatment of Asian Americans...

[TMC]

...in Hollywood after racist incident on set

https://ew.com/steve-park-recalls-ra...ement-11690068

On the Boy Meets World rewatch podcast Pod Meets World, Park said he found the Friends set to be a "toxic" workplace when he guest-starred in Season 3 in 1997. He added that he witnessed a crew member using racist language to refer to fellow guest actor James Hong, according to EW. The experience prompted Park to write a Screen Actors Guild and write a headline-making "mission statement" calling for better treatment of Asian Americans in Hollywood. Park recounted an unnamed crew member calling Hong to set "and essentially saying, 'Where is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy.'" "When I called Screen Actors Guild after that happened, the person I spoke with recommended I write an article to the L.A. Times." Park said he decided to do just that, reasoning, "this is bigger than this show. This isn't the first time this has happened. But this is the environment where this is business as usual in Hollywood in 1997, I guess it was. And nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it. So this was normal behavior."