If you follow the Cubs at all, then you’ve probably seen people wearing these “Horry Kow” Kosuke Fukudome t-shirts at Wrigley Field or around town. The t-shirt has the usual Cub head logo, but the bear has slanted eyes in this version, as well as oversized Harry Caray glasses and oriental-style writing.
A lot of people complained about the racist nature of the shirt after the Sun-Times wrote an article about it. Cubs officials took action today by confronting the vendor selling these unlicensed products, and were successful in getting the guy to pull the shirts (probably by threatening him with legal action for copyright infringement).
I usually don’t get offended by crap like this, but I have to say I’m glad the shirts won’t be sold outside Wrigley anymore. I mean, if anything, the shirt looks like something poking fun at someone of Chinese origin, not Japanese, which I guess reinforces the racist element of the whole thing.
Of course, now that there’s controversy surrounding the Horry Kow shirts, I’m sure the guy will make double the money by selling them on eBay!
April 20th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I have no stake in this but know everything about it. Horry Kow was created by a Balkin imigrant simply to make$$$ The creator is a Chinese imigrant who owns a screen print shop. So technically it has a chinese slant. Pun semiintended. Horry Kow is no more racist then Mama Celeste saying Ambondanza it simply points out the fact that japanese use R for L. First off the japanese are not a race, and that in no way is racism.
April 21st, 2008 at 6:25 am
“First off the japanese are not a race, and that in no way is racism.”
I know. But “Asian” is a race classification, and the “racist element” I was referring to in my comment was the fact that non-Asians can’t seem to tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian cultures.
I’m Asian, BTW, so I have had direct experience with this.
Another BTW: to say that Japanese use “r” for “l” is an oversimplification that shows me you’ve never actually studied the language.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
i’m asian and i find it hirarious. see what i did there?