Local News in Brief : Rolling Stone Apologizes
Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo, joined by Asian community leaders, on Thursday denounced as racist a Rolling Stone article that describes Koreans as having “pie-plate” faces and “all looking alike.”
“It’s not funny. It’s not satire. I believe that it will have the effect of worsening tensions out there in the community rather than improving tensions,” Woo, a Chinese-American, told a news conference.
Woo and community leaders demanded that the magazine print an immediate apology and retraction, commission an article by a Korean or other Asian writer on an Asian-related issue, begin an Asian internship and run most of the letters of protest sent to the magazine.
Rolling Stone Executive Editor Robert Wallace, who came from New York to attend the news conference, apologized for the article, written by P. J. O’Rourke, and said it was meant as a satire. Wallace agreed to the demands of the Asian coalition.
“This isn’t really a response from the Rolling Stone as much as a sincere apology,” Wallace said. The controversy was sparked by the article “Seoul Brothers” in the Feb. 11 edition of the magazine.
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