Many people would kill to be as talented as Donald Glover.
After all, this is a man who wrote for 30 Rock in his twenties, won 5 Grammys, 2 Globes, and 2 Emmys, and was so hilarious that Dan Harmon would simply write “And then Donald says something funny” in his scripts on Community.
As you might guess, I’m a fan of the guy. But with the upcoming release of his Prime Video Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot, some uncomfortable questions about his attitudes to Asian people, specifically Asian women, have been brought up once more, driven by the fact that his fictional wife and co-star is Maya Erskine, who is the half-Japanese.
So, just why are people calling out Donald Glover’s “Asian problem” ahead of Mr. & Mrs. Smith? We have the scoop below.
Anti-Asian and fetishizing themes in his early work
Let’s start at the beginning, specifically with his album Camp.
The problems with some of his earlier lyrics are well documented. Some of the worst lines include these from “Kids (Keep Up)”:
“Finding you is like finding Asians I hate// But they say I got a fetish, nah, I’m skipping all of it// Black or white girls come with a set of politics”
Then there’s the plethora of “Yellow Fever” staples, like reducing the women he raps about to nothing more than their race/ethnicity. Without the context of the rest of the album, some of these lines might be relatively innocuous. For example, “Chillin’ with a Filipina at your local Jollibee” from “Bonfire” seems like a harmless reference that was most likely put in for rhythmic reasons, but when it’s part of a larger whole, it’s a lot harder to ignore.
The line “This Asian dude, I stole his girl, and now he got that Kogi beef” also appears in the same song, showing that it’s not just Asian women on Glover’s radar. Again, if this was the only line in the album it could be dismissed as an insensitive and poor attempt at getting a funny line in, but it isn’t the sole questionable lyric.
With that said, his Childish Gambino rap persona was especially jokey in his earlier days, so a very generous interpretation of these bars might be that they are simply of their time, and not indicative of a wider lack of respect by Glover. This would kind of make sense, especially if you check out his stand up special Weird, which definitely strays into the cringey when watched through today’s sensibilities. However, there have been other strange comments that keep the argument alive.
Then there was that time he created a weird Tumblr where he posed as a young Asian woman, which doesn’t help matters.
Why is this “Asian problem” different to other criticisms of Donald Glover?
It’s hard to square this immature content with the guy behind the masterful, multi-faceted Because the Internet. But even his recent work hasn’t been free from criticism, with a fair few outlets and commentators accusing him of being anti-Black women. His last release prior to Mr & Mrs Smith has even been called “hate mail” in some well respected publications.
This is something Glover clearly has thought about, shown most clearly by the fact he mentioned it in his surreal and somewhat pretentious 2022 interview with himself. He’s not been afraid to look at it in his art, either, as evidenced by a much scrutinized scene in Atlanta in which a Black female character attacks a white woman for having a Black partner. Glover’s own partner is white, so it’s hard not to make personal comparisons, nor to make the leap that this is something that he has considered.
The sad thing is, this also shows that Glover clearly does have the tools and intelligence to look at racism in a complex way. He doesn’t seem to fall into the liberal trap of treating bigotry like a scoreboard, and has produced ideas that broadly align with an intersectional way of thinking. He is capable of addressing almost every elephant in the room — just not the Asian one.
Part of a wider culture
This could be seen as part of a wider issue of anti-Asian racism within the African-American community. Of course, inter-minority bigotry isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, and when it comes down to it is less all-encompassing than the structural and institutionalized racism that mostly benefits privileged white folks in the West. Plus, white people still overwhelmingly make up the perpetrators of hate crimes against Asian people, and Black people undoubtedly face the most racism in the U.S, so when it comes to priorities, it isn’t quite the top of the list. But this specific form of racism within communities of color does exist, stoked by historical and cultural factors, and should be addressed.
We have to do it carefully, though. Anti-Asian racism by Black people is a talking point of moral panic that Conservative outlets, some of whom are allegedly respected, have been baselessly pushing, to the extent that some publications have produced articles that literally make up statistics which they don’t offer direct sources to.
Whether it’s tension between Korean Americans and Black Americans, Cuban-American Republicans disdaining Venezuelan immigrants, or Indians letting their Islamophobia show, we need to tackle this kind of bigotry as it infects solidarity movements. Whether he likes it or not, Glover is a part of that problem because of the lyrics he’s penned, and the jokes he’s made.
So, should I watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith?
Glover has also really slowed down on the fetishization, with his recent work being more experimental and focused specifically on Black issues than anything else. There was a tiny hint of his feelings towards Asian women in season 3 of Atlanta, which actually looked at the topic from a nuanced, yet ridiculous perspective: An Asian character makes a comment about how Black men tend to hit on her to a Black character, who takes it in good humor, only for a group of white saviors to end up attacking her for being racist. You can make of that what you will.
Although this all shouldn’t be ignored, I also am certain that Erskine’s character will be a well-rounded one in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Glover is a talented guy who understands how to make complex and interesting characters, including women (despite what some outlets say about Van from Atlanta), and it’s unlikely Erskine has been brought on as a Phoebe Waller-Bridge replacement to be an empty shell.
Plus, the new Mr. & Mrs. Smith is likely to be a whole different beast to the original, which relied heavily on its intense sex appeal. Glover and Erskine are both known for their comedic talents, and it seems the series will be going down that route rather than relying on the chemistry between its co-stars, which in the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie version practically oozes through the screen. In that sense, it seems Erskine wasn’t just hired because she’s good looking. In the context of all the above, we’ll take that as a win.