NextSharkNextShark.com

‘There’s no judgment’: NYT reporter defends writing Asian Americans are ‘overrepresented’ in figure skating

‘There’s no judgment’: NYT reporter defends writing Asian Americans are ‘overrepresented’ in figure skating

Amid a fiery backlash that included accusations of anti-Asian bias, New York Times sports reporter Andrew Keh has defended his use of the word “overrepresented” in describing the presence of Asian Americans in figure skating.

February 15, 2022
SHARE
Amid a fiery backlash that included accusations of anti-Asian bias, New York Times sports reporter Andrew Keh has defended his use of the word “overrepresented” in describing the presence of Asian Americans in figure skating.
Keh, who is Asian American, found himself in hot water last weekend after writing an article published on Feb. 8 titled “The Asian American Pipeline in Figure Skating.” The story featured statements from prominent Asian American skaters, including Tiffany Chin, Kristi Yamaguchi, Naomi Nari Nam, Nathan Chen, Karen Chen, Alysa Liu and Vincent Zhou.
In the article, Keh claims that figure skating, which was “almost uniformly white” until the 1990s, has gradually transformed to become “plainly an Asian American sport.” The description of this evolution, amidst recent calls for greater representation of Asian Americans across many industries, led to Keh’s controversial word choice.
“In the United States, a country where Asians and sports are not often intertwined in the popular imagination, figure skating is now plainly an Asian American sport. Asians make up around 7% of the American population but have become vividly overrepresented in ice rinks and competitions at every level, from coast to coast,” Keh wrote.
View post on Twitter
The pushback from readers kicked off after the New York Times posted the statement to Twitter on Thursday. Many criticized Keh’s claim while suggesting there was actually a lack of Asians in just about every field beyond figure skating.
View post on Twitter
View post on Twitter
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter

A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.

Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.

Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.

View post on Twitter
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s wife Evelyn Yang also took to the social media platform to explain why she thought the terminology was harmful:
View post on Twitter
Meanwhile, former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank Curtis S. Chin posed an analogy using the NFL and NBA:
View post on Twitter
Conservatives also weighed in to charge the Times with anti-Asian racism, including the Washington Times and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex):
View post on Twitter
Keh responded to the backlash in a tweet on Thursday night,  explaining that there was “no judgment baked into [his choice]” of “overrepresented” and that it was purely based on statistical context:
View post on Twitter
In another tweet, he took the opportunity to explain his use of the adverb “vividly”:
View post on Twitter
View post on Twitter
NextShark has reached out to Keh for comment.
Featured Image via Ajay Suresh (CC BY 2.0)
MOST READ
    HAPPENING NOW
      Editorial Staff

      Editorial Staff Follow NextShark on <a>Facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/nextshark">Twitter</a> to keep up-to-date on our posts! Send us tips, press releases, and story ideas to info[at]nextshark[dot]com.

      SHARE THIS ARTICLE:

      RELATED STORIES FROM NEXTSHARK

      Support
      NextShark's
      Journalism

      Many people might not know this, but NextShark is a small media startup that runs on no outside funding or loans, and with no paywalls or subscription fees, we rely on help from our community and readers like you.

      Everything you see today is built by Asians, for Asians to help amplify our voices globally and support each other. However, we still face many difficulties in our industry because of our commitment to accessible and informational Asian news coverage.

      We hope you consider making a contribution to NextShark so we can continue to provide you quality journalism that informs, educates, and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way. Thank you for supporting NextShark and our community.

      © 2023 NextShark, Inc. All rights reserved.