‘Holland’s Got Talent’ Judge Got a Little Racist
Holland’s Got Talent contestant Xiao Wang was treated to some fantastic racial jokes before he even began his performance. When he said he’d be singing a Verdi aria, judge Cornelis Willem Heuckeroth, nicknamed Gordon, asked, “Which number are you singing? Number 39 with race?” Haha, casual racism for a guy from another country who’s taken the time to learn some of your language.
For his part, Xiao Wang had a pretty good performance and left most of the judges impressed. This included Gordon who clamored, “This is the best Chinese I’ve had in weeks. And it’s not a takeaway.” Having no idea how uncomfortable he was making his co-judges, he asked for them to vote on the contestant who he affectionately called the People’s Republic of China.
Despite Xiao Wang already leaving the stage, Gordon couldn’t stop the roll he was on adding one more comment in Dutch. “He looks like a waiter from a Chinese restaurant.”
Co-judge Dan Karaty finally spoke up and told him he’s “really not supposed to say things like that to people.” “What?,” said Gordon oblivious to what he was talking about.
This actually reminded me of that one Simpsons episode where Krusty the Clown did Chinese impersonation. It went about as well as this did.
(H/T: Gawker)
Clearly, Holland’s Got Racism! Hey-o! See what I did there? About as funny as this Gordon dickhead. I hate assholes like that who think their D-list jokes are edgy and funny. He only cracks himself up too. Btw, thanks for the great Krusty clip. Memories.
The comment was “Number 39 with rice?”.
It was a series of comments actually. Read the article.
Gordon did something similar on the same show when 12 year old coloratura soprano Sofia Asgari sang Mozart’s difficult Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute. However, he was gracious with 16 year old lyric soprano Eliza den Braber who sang an aria from Madame Butterfly. My favorite scene on this show was the brief look of alarm on the face of soprano Amira Willighagen when all the golden confetti was dumped on her after she won the Golden Ticket. I guess if you are a good opera singer you are probably going to get “dumped on” somewhere… Read more »
Gordon should be fired from this programme. It’s just ridiculous how he is not even being held against for such racist remarks.
The Dutch have forgotten about another outrage just last year? The dutch editor Eva Hoeke also ‘resigned’ (read: got sacked) because of her racist remark towards Rihanna.
So how can Gordon get away with such rediculous racist remarks?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2077099/Rihanna-race-row-Dutch-magazine-editor-Eva-Hoeke-resigns-following-scandal.html
The Dutch media doesn’t think this is a big deal. To them, it’s just a joke. Dutch broadcaster RTL refuses to apologize for Gordon’s racist remarks.
This makes me so angry. That’s why I created a petition:https://www.change.org/petitions/rtl-apologize-for-gordon-heuckeroth-s-racist-remarks-at-chinese-singer-xiao-wang#share
Please sign it. Unlike in the US, Asian support groups in Holland aren’t very vocal. That’s why people think it’s okay to crack racist jokes about Asians on national television.