Words matter. These are the best Eugene Lee Yang Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
My job is literally clapping back every day online as a comedian.
YouTube opened up the types of voices and alternative ways of viewing ourselves that would never have been greenlit by a Hollywood studio.
Even before BuzzFeed, Asian-American faces and voices were so prevalent online as huge YouTubers.
The strength of the platform that I am privileged to have is that I reach a massive group of diverse people.
As a small kid from Texas, I just imagined that Hollywood was this world that was really foreign and far away and I didn’t see many Asians on screen, so I had no idea that I could even be a part of it.
There’s a reason we all cried when Gina Rodriguez won that Golden Globe. It didn’t matter if we’re Latina. We get it. We’re just like, ‘Thank you! Finally, a more accurate reflection of diversity!’
One of the first things that I found audiences related to me on outside of my identity was just my general cynical depressive worldview, which, surprisingly a lot of people share!
I’m most concerned with committing to characters that contribute to more complex, modern and dynamic Asian-American representation on screen.
Content isn’t just a brand or message that you develop yourself and then throw out into the echo chamber. It’s a mirror.
I haven’t really spoken openly about my experiences with depression, especially, not ever having the chance to be in any way clinically diagnosed but I think that I certainly have a naturally depressive personality.
A lot of times I go to a comedy show, I sit there and wait for the comedian to run out of ideas and look at me and make an Asian joke. Which is very different for blacks and Latinos. You can’t say certain things because everyone is cognizant of when things are and should be offensive. Asians don’t have that luxury.
We have the right to be angry about our representation in the media. It’s just not a reflection of how we live our daily lives.
Some people just yell ‘Asian BuzzFeed guy!’ and I turn around and distinctly yell back ‘Eugene!’
I think as you become a more open person and let others in, just in your regular life, you’ll be surprised by how much you find and how you can then incorporate that into the work you put online.
I would walk down the street and people would scream from their cars at me and, generally, I’d turn around and it’s a 13-year-old girl. And it’s funny because that is the audience that I think big studios are always trying to target.
For some people of color, for some people with conservative or religious backgrounds, you know, we’re constantly sort of looking over our shoulder.
My time online has shown me that the viewers will respond most to authentic storytelling.
We have to express ourselves in the most true and authentic way.
I was a very insecure, self-conscious kid, and as an artist even more so.
Even if it’s just the smallest thing, like what label I go by, I think to find the truth and express it with full confidence.
How do we innovate and make things that challenge the notion of being stuck in a place of just being popular?
I know many YouTubers who are these amazing LGBTQ icons for young people, but many of them have not come out publicly, even though they’re well-known online.
I really did hate who I was.
I am a proud, gay person of color and I will not be intimidated into mediocrity or legislated into conformity!
Digital content is it’s own industry that is going through it’s own growing pains as with any other industry.
