Outrage grows over racist comments targeting KPIX 5 reporter Betty Yu – CBS San Francisco

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – In these troubled times, as Asian Americans continued to face physical and verbal attacks across the country, racist comments from a conservative YouTube host targeting KPIX 5 reporter Betty Yu have aroused the indignation of a community pushed to extremes.

Steven Crowder made the comments during a segment of his show online Wednesday. It started as an attack on the dispute between San Francisco health officials and In-N-Out burgers over a local COVID order to verify the vaccination status of customers.

The award-winning, veteran journalist covered the story.

Watch Betty’s Report

After a couple of opening comments, Crowder’s rant turned into a racist attack on Yu because of his Asian American heritage.

The racist comments came after Yu became one of the leading reporters on the rise in attacks on Asian Americans in the Bay Area, her stories raising awareness among locals of the staggering and shameful increase in the racial crime.

READ MORE: Asian American attacks: more than 9,000 incidents reported nationwide since pandemic began

Now she too had become the target of racist attacks and the outrage was immediate.

READ MORE: Betty Yu opens up about impact of racist attack

Twitter officials were told of the racist and disturbing nature of the post. From a page devoted to reporting possible violations by Crowder to the San Francisco-based social media giant, there have been several reports of Crowder and his hate messages.

CBS TV President Jennifer Mitchell and KPIX-TV San Francisco President / CEO Kevin Walsh also expressed support for Yu and condemned the attack.

“CBS TV and KPIX 5 fully support our colleague Betty Yu and condemn the horrific racist comments directed at Betty and the other humiliating Asian stereotypes aired on Steven Crowder’s Wednesday show. We stand in solidarity with Betty, an accomplished journalist and valued member of our CBS family. These hateful and offensive remarks are scandalous and destructive and reaffirm the importance of our work as journalists in shedding light on anti-Asian violence and hate speech when it occurs.

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing on-air talent like Yu, released an official statement later Thursday.

SAG-AFTRA condemns in the strongest terms the racist and xenophobic comments made by commentator Steven Crowder targeting Bay Area television reporter Betty Yu in a video widely shared on social media. The revolting segment finds Crowder and his co-host laughing, as they “joke” about Yu’s ethnicity.

Online hate and dehumanizing rhetoric – besides being disgusting and hurtful in itself – can have a ripple effect, encouraging physical attacks and emboldening like-minded racists. Last month, the FBI reported that hate crimes in America were at the highest level in 12 years, and Asian Americans were one of the most targeted groups.

SAG-AFTRA expresses its support for Yu, award-winning journalist on CBS KPIX, and denounces the humiliating verbal attacks.

Crowder and others with many followers who trade in hate and misinformation would do well to consider the effect their words have on people’s lives.

SAG-AFTRA will continue to fight racism and promote diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the entertainment and media industry and in society in general.

His colleagues, who have admired Yu’s reporting over the years, and others on social media added their anger and support.

“The #CBS and KPIX 5 TV channels fully support our colleague Betty Yu and condemn the horrific racist comments directed at Betty as well as the other humiliating Asian stereotypes aired on Steven Crowder’s Wednesday show. We stand in solidarity with Betty, ”posted presenter Juliette Goodrich.

“It’s just appalling and disgusting. No one should be treated this way. My colleague @BettyKPIX is a great journalist who does important work for the community. I am proud to work alongside her. #StopAAPIHate,” added KPIX reporter Max Darrow.

“We are by your side @BettyKPIX. We need more than an apology from @scrowder @YouTube to delete his channel, ”posted KPIX reporter Maria Cid Medina.

“#CBS” TV channels and KPIX 5 fully support our colleague Betty Yu and condemn the horrific racist comments directed at Betty and other humiliating Asian stereotypes aired on Steven Crowder’s show Wednesday. We are in solidarity with Betty. staff member Maya Castro.

“After a week of suspension from YouTube, this guy was in the air again, casually spitting racist comments about my friend Betty Yu. Proud to stand alongside CBS and all my fellow media outlets speaking out against this. sectarianism and this hatred, ”Kiet Do, reporter for KPIX 5, posted.

“I’m with @BettyKPIX @KPIXtv to stop the attacks on our #AAPI community. This kind of attack does not belong to any platform or our streets. @YouTube What are you going to do about it? #StopAAPIHate, ”posted presenter Elizabeth Cook.

Others have joined in to offer their support.

Stand up to your feet, Betty Yu. You are doing a great job. We are proud of you!

– Claire Lee (@ ClaireLee_1) October 21, 2021

Never heard of @scrowder but I have heard of #BettyYu and that means she is more important! I heard he was mean. I hope she can rise above her ugliness and throw it aside. He’s not worth his time, nor R those who are blatantly vicious on social media. @BettyKPIX @KPIXtv @ abc7newsbayarea

– Mary French (@ukgirlinsf) October 21, 2021

His grades must be dropping, and to the detriment of a honorable and dedicated reporter, Betty Yu, he does this only to draw attention to himself. Do not give him the platform to stand on. It will only continue to fail.

– M (@ Maren01ml) October 21, 2021

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