'This is another NBC hit job': Macaulay Culkin needs to be canceled over remarks he made in 2018

Back in the ’90s, when this editor was a newspaper reporter, the local university sent us a book of contacts to use if we ever needed an expert’s perspective on a story. The practice has certainly switched to the internet, but it’s still the same: If a reporter needs a quote for a story, she can always find an expert who’s a professor. This time around, NBC News has turned to Pawan Dhingra, a professor of American studies at Amherst College, to react to “problematic” comments “Home Alone” actor Macaulay Culkin made on Joe Rogan’s podcast back in 2018.

See, Culkin is married to Brenda Song and told Rogan that with mixed-race children, he’d be able to “make Asian jokes because I have an Asian girlfriend kinda thing.”

Most have seen Macaulay Culkin's "tiny little Asian babies" comments. but the full convo is much more disturbing. during the JRE, he made several Asian jokes &claimed he would be “allowed” to do so if he had Asian kids bc he would “understand the struggle”https://t.co/JDvNU2eJUf

— Kimmy The Pooh (@kimmythepooh) April 14, 2021

In a ridiculously long piece, NBC’s Kimmy Yam reports:

The past statements, which resurfaced Monday, have now elicited criticism from many who pointed out that he had “fetishized” his own children.

Pawan Dhingra, a professor of American studies at Amherst College, told NBC Asian America that Culkin’s comments are problematic as they objectify his own family.

“More than anything, he’s exoticizing his partner, and the babies, who were at that point not even born yet,” Dhingra said. “I think that’s a problem in and of itself — when you are turning a person into an exotic object because of their race, or their biracial heritage.”

A couple of tips from a long-time journalist: never trust university professors, and always question reporters’ use of the word “many.”

This piece cites exactly two people who made comments on Twitter and were "upset" with Culkin. Two. This is another NBC hit job. Nothing more. https://t.co/JsmKwPmIuG

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 15, 2021

How MSM covers a child actor who hasn't been relevant in 30 years: "Dig through everything he's ever said on every platform ever!"

How MSM covers the President of the United States: "Are migrants streaming here b/c you're too nice a guy? And what's your MarioKart high score?"

— Bryan Farris (@SaveFarrisLSU) April 15, 2021

They already cancelled Trump now they want to cancel Kevin McAllister

— $Doge Faced Pony Soldier™ (@D0gFacedPony) April 15, 2021

I’m Mexican and my wife is white and as soon as I finish roofing this house (in record time).. I’m going to tell her to stop making jokes about me and the kids.

— Jorge (@ironeater1170) April 15, 2021

I make Irish jokes. Also German jokes. Also any joke. Googling humor in the future will find no results except a knock at the door.

— Sir Silence Dogood (@TheDailyTrigge1) April 15, 2021

My wife and 18 month old son are Korean and she's trying to teach him to say White Devil because it is funny

— MicDre (@DreMicDre) April 15, 2021

Parenting win?

— Kim (@Kim34677112) April 15, 2021

Americans roast each other for being from different states. My partner and I have been making fun of each other for yrs because he's from the south and for some reason yelling yankee auto wins the roast. Teasing like that is common in the trades we both work. Lightn tf up ppl

— Kim (@Kim34677112) April 15, 2021

NBC gonna get hit in the head with a paint can.

— #BlockBarnes (@theuncommonfan) April 15, 2021

Wait, it’s not just tweets; NBC News found another expert for this really, really long piece:

Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the nonprofit National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, said the misconception that white parents will understand the struggles of their kids of color often comes from a well-meaning place, but a misguided one. But Culkin’s comments, she said, make it seem as though he’s using his relation to “the struggle” as a “passport to make Asian jokes and basically use your children as an excuse to dehumanize Asian Americans.”

We love Culkin’s response to the “controversy” in a statement to NBC News Asian America: “Mother, Father and Baby are all healthy and happy. We are overjoyed.”

Related:

Chinatown is canceled: Having solved all other problems, CNN shines a woke spotlight on racist fonts https://t.co/KAXFCytoVE

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 9, 2021