Have you ever heard the phrase “don’t yuck my yum?” It doesn’t always relate to food, but that was the moral of the story following backlash over a segment on James Corden’s ‘Late Late Show’.
The popular British host and actor has now said the ‘Spill Your Guts’ segment, which was accused of making fun of Asian food, will be revamped.
“We heard that story, and the next time we do that bit we absolutely won’t involve or use any of those foods,” Corden said while on the ‘The Howard Stern Show’. “As you said at the start, our show is a show about joy and light and love, we don’t want to make a show to upset anybody.”
In early June, TikTok user Kim Saira posted a clip from the ‘Spill Your Guts’ game, which requires participants to either reveal a secret or choose to eat a type of food that might be unusual to others. The episode in question was from 2016 with Jimmy Kimmel as the guest, and saw them cringe at dishes such as balut (a Filipino delicacy of boiled fertilised egg) and pidan (Chinese preserved eggs).
“Wow, it all looks so terrible,” Kimmel said in the clip.
“It’s really disgusting. It’s horrific,” Corden added.
In a Change.org petition, which currently has more than 45,000 signatures, Saira urged the makers of the show to alter the foods presented or remove the segment, citing increased anti-Asian racism in the US and across the world.
“In the wake of the constant Asian hate crimes that have continuously been occurring, not only is this segment incredibly culturally offensive and insensitive, but it also encourages anti-Asian racism,” the petition read. “So many Asian Americans are consistently bullied and mocked for their native foods, and this segment amplifies and encourages it.”
