YouTube Special Features AAPI Stars Addressing Challenges and ‘Taking a Stand’

July 1, 2021

A star-studded special addressing the challenges faced by the AAPI community, featuring celebrities such as Michelle Kwan, Simu Liu, Ross Butler, Auli’i Cravalho and more, premiered on YouTube.

About the special: On Wednesday, “Recipe for Change,” which was produced by Lebron James’ SpringHill Company, appeared on Jubilee’s channel.

Celebrities, chefs, activists and allies all came together during a sit-down dinner to “celebrate global Asian and Pacific Islander culture and discuss the recent and historic acts of violence against the AAPI community.”
“Recipe for Change” calls for people to have difficult conversations, discuss challenges faced by the community and to not just “take a seat at the table,” but to “take a stand.”
The show also featured a Q&A portion where Jubilee Media Founder Jason Y. Lee approached strangers on the street and asked them the same questions discussed during the “Recipe for Change” dinner.

Dinner guests: Several prominent AAPI figures and celebrities attended three separate dinners with cuisine prepared by acclaimed chefs Jet Tila, Alvin Cailan and Melissa King.

Actors that attended included Cravalho, BD Wong, Olivia Munn, Sophia Bush, Asia Jackson, Liu, Butler, and Brandon Flynn, according to USA Today.
Others included comedian Hasan Minhaj, filmmaker Eugene Lee Yang, former figure skater Kwan, gymnast Katelyn Ohashi, journalist Lisa Ling and comic Margaret Cho.
“Think Like A Monk” author Jay Shetty, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, president and CEO of Time’s Up Now Tina Tchen and Lee were also in attendance.

Taking a stand: Each guest was given a scroll with a question to answer and discuss at the dinner table such as “What’s an Asian stereotype that bothers you?” or “What’s a piece of AAPI history that impacted you? Do you remember learning anything about AAPI history in school?”

Munn discussed the sexualization of Asian women saying that the way women are treated and victimized is “very shameful to the rest of the world. It’s always sexual.” She stated that Asian women are not only sexualized by men, but also by “other women who may not like the way that we look because we have been coined as ‘exotic.'”
No one recalled learning anything about AAPI history in school and Ling stated it was because “history is always told in the eyes of the victor.”
“When you have no framework for the contributions that Asians have played in this country, the egregious discrimination that Asians have dealt with, it’s so easy to overlook a whole demographic and even dehumanize,” said Ling.

Featured Image via Jubilee

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