Impetus: GQ Magazine names Henry Golding as one of their men (and women) of 2018

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’ve got this love/hate idea of Henry Golding.  I love that he’s helping debunk the crippling stereotype that Asian men are the neutered weaklings of the gender by association of their ethnicity; but I hate that it’s a guy that barely is/looks a quarter Asian that is usurping all the credit in the world for advancing perception of Asians.

It’s not at all surprising, given how flagrantly and blatantly racist Hollywood is, and of course baby steps and all that rhetoric.  But why couldn’t it be a guy like Daniel Dae Kim, or like BD Wong, Asian men who are fearless pioneers amongst Asian actors, to get any sort of national nod above a practically white guy like Henry Golding?  Kim stuck to his convictions and walked away from a fairly successful show because he was getting financially stiffed.  Wong is openly gay, plays some of the most flamboyantly outrageous roles out there, and is still thriving in spite of having two less-than-socially-accepted-by-white-America strikes against him. 

What the fuck has a guy that looks like a bug-eyed Pierce Brosnan with gapped teeth done remotely in comparison?  Just be lucky enough to have grabbed the fascination of some producers to get spoon-fed the role of an Asian guy in a social commentary of a blockbuster film, and now he’s being credited by circle-jerk Hollywood of being some sort of groundbreaking talent? 

Frankly, if there’s absolutely anyone from Crazy Rich Asians who should be getting this kind of praise, it’s Constance Wu, the obvious hard carry of the entire film.  GQ could have made bigger waves had they actually strived for any sort of equality, and gone 2-and-2 with men and women as “men of the year” and had Wu take Golding’s place, and had her stand along with Serena Williams as women of the year.

But ultimately, I’m criticizing GQ.  They’ve been as relevant in the publication industry as like, MySpace during the era of Facebook, or HD DVDs in the world of Bluray.  A garbage rag like them picking a tool like Henry Golding is pretty much pathetic attempts to garner cheap pops from the lower-standards Asian community who are so desperate for any accolades to an Asian guy, that they’d even settle for a plant like him.