Bowen Yang is tired of fans tagging him in photos of other Asian people on social media.
The Saturday Night Live star opened up about his frustrations with the internet during the “I don’t think so, honey” segment of his and co-host Matt Rogers’ latest Las Culturistas podcast episode.
“I don’t think so, honey — TikTok or at least my experience of it, because it’s not even the algorithm anymore… my experience of TikTok is I log on and 20 of my notifications are of someone who thinks they’re being cute, tagging me saying, ‘Oh my god, this person looks just like Bowen Yang.’ It’s an Asian person,” Yang said.
“It’s a little Asian baby dancing around in, like, a little elephant costume,” the comedian continued. “Trust me. I’ve seen it. You guys can stop tagging me in that. No, thank you. It makes me not wanna use the platform.”
The Wicked actor first caught people’s attention during his guest appearances on the shows Broad City and High Maintenance. He was later hired by SNL as a writer in 2018 before becoming the long-running sketch comedy show’s first Chinese-American castmember the following year. Since then, he has become a staple on the show with plenty of memorable characters, sketches and “Weekend Update” moments, including viral skits with Sydney Sweeney and Ariana Grande. Yang has also earned four Emmy nominations for SNL.
“I guess that’s just not gonna go away. I guess I have to accept this as part of my life,” Yang added of the toxic social media experiences he’s had with fans. “It’s just a weird thing and I hate the Internet because of it. I think this is a great reason to leave.”
As Yang continues to find more success in Hollywood, such as with his role as Pfannee in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, which premiered in theaters last month, he’s also seeing the negative side of fame.
“These people who don’t see a lot of Asian people in their everyday lives, I’m top of mind to them,” he explained on the podcast. “So they see an Asian person on the internet, they go, ‘Oh my god, that’s Bowen Yang. Bowen Yang should do a sketch, a skit on SNL where he plays this little baby who’s dancing.’ I’m like, ‘Listen to yourself. Do you think that could happen? Do you think I’m over here thinking I’m gonna do that?’”
“Listen, what a huge honor to be in this movie [Wicked] that is, you know, being appreciated by so many people,” Yang continued, but “I am receiving an uptick of the most lobotomized people you didn’t even think were out there in this world… this is not related to me wanting to voodoo doll, potentially kill anybody if I had the power. But I am over here thinking, ‘Wow, human beings, man. Our brains are small. We are a stupid species. We are dumb. Myself included.’”
