As Halloween approached, a ticker expressed concern about a possible racist explanation for the “squid game” costume.
Don’t: Last Thursday, comedian and “Feeling Asian” podcast co-host Yangmi Meyer posted a 13-second video that touches on how non-Asians can be forced to make their favorite characters from the Netflix hit show.
In the video, she pretends to be a non-Asian person who says, “I really want to do a ‘squid game’ for Halloween but I’m so scared that Asians will get angry at me.”
The mayor then plays himself with the caption “I, Asian” and says, “Why are Asians angry at you?”
After she assures her she’s fine, the video quickly cuts the non-Asian character into a cheap wig, tapping their eyes upwards to make them look more slanted.
Mayer’s video caption reads, “It’s okay to wear a tracksuit and don’t just rac the wig.”
No Trend: The video currently has 5.3 million views and thousands of comments supporting Meyer’s sarcastic approach. Some users said it was acceptable to cosplay without “Asian fishing” and some urged people to wear only green tracksuits or pink jumpsuits while dressing up as a “squid game” character.
One user said, “Getting dressed from an Asian show = OK. It seems to be a feature that people are abusive = not okay. “
This video touches on the racist meaning behind the “slanted eye gesture”, on TickTock in 2020, slanted eyes were considered “trendy” by makeup artists who lengthened their temples or lengthened their eyes which is a small eye shape that is reminiscent This is how Asian eyes look naturally. It has been dubbed the “Fox Eye Trend” and has been criticized by many Asian TickTockers for not being the same as Yellowfacing in old Hollywood movies.
Meyer’s skit has been following her mega-viral ticktalk video since May 30 where she explained some dubious English translations behind the “squid game”. This video has over 12.8 million views as of this writing.