Being racist and deleting social media posts once they go viral seem to be requirements if you’d like to work for or with Donald Trump. In a number of incidents, Trump and his associates have deleted posts on social media that were either offensive or just filled with nonsense false information. In the most recent incident of technological blundering, Trump’s personal lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani posted a racist video clip on his YouTube channel mocking Asians on Wednesday.
The now-deleted racist video was allegedly accidentally posted by his staffers. In it, Giuliani can be heard using a stereotypical fake Chinese accent and seen mimicking a bow. Of course, while the clip was deleted off Giuliani’s page, everything posted on the internet stays on the internet—the video was caught and posted by The Daily Beast.
According to The Daily Beast, Giuliani’s xenophobic remarks followed an interview with former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer for the podcast Common Sense on Tuesday. Instead of cutting the video at the interview when posting the footage online, editors seemed to have kept rolling and posted the footage in its entirety, including post-interview moments where Giuliani mocked Asians.
In the extended footage, Giuliani appears to be unaware the camera is still recording as he sits at his desk indulging in acts of racism with individuals off-screen. He calls to his assistant, Jayne Zirckle, in a mocking accent, alleging she is “going to be the most famous model in China.” This continues on for several seconds with Giuliani repeating her name in the offensive accent and laughing. “Ah, get me Jayne Zirkle,” Giuliani said. “What would you like to have for dinner? Jayne Zirkle.”
Giuliani is the only one laughing from this incident. Racism is not a joke, and mocking accents is not only inappropriate and disrespectful but inhumane. The ability to speak fluent English is not a measure of intelligence, and for far too long individuals have equated language ability and accents to intelligence. Accents differ from country to country and while they may not sound the same, they are no laughing matter.
In response to Giuliani’s unfiltered racism, California Rep.Ted Lieu tweeted a hard fact: Asian Americans “make up almost a half a million voters.” A number of studies, including data compiled by the Pew Research Center, have found that Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the U.S. electorate. If Giuliani is allegedly working to increase votes in swing states for Trump, this move does quite the opposite.
But alas, this is not the first time Giuliani has accidentally shared more than he’d like. In 2019, the former mayor allegedly butt-dialed not just a friend but a reporter from NBC News. He then left a three-minute-long voice message discussing his need for cash. Ironically, that accidental call followed another incident in which Giuliani left a voicemail again accidentally including information he did not want to share, including a conversation in which he is complaining about being the target of bad press. Moral of the story? Giuliani is prone to technological “accidents.”
