What To Know
- Actor BD Wong apologized after making a racist joke on Threads in response to a post by Black wildlife influencer Mike Holston, which sparked backlash.
- Wong acknowledged the seriousness of his comment, accepted responsibility, and emphasized that there were no excuses for exploiting a harmful stereotype.
- Before issuing his formal apology, Wong initially attempted to explain his post as a misunderstanding, but later deleted it and addressed the issue directly.
Actor BD Wong has apologized for causing “hurt” after he made an insensitive joke on Threads on Tuesday (December 2) using “a despicable, racist trope.”
The Law & Order: SVU guest star—known for his recurring role as forensic psychiatrist Dr. George Huang—faced backlash after responding to a post by Black wildlife influencer Mike Holston, who had shared a photo of himself holding an animal and captioned it, “Name this animal. Wrong answers only.”
In a since-deleted post, Wong replied, “It appears to be a Black man.”
Following the backlash to his comment, Wong returned to Threads later in the day and issued an apology.
“I want to elaborate re a racist comment I posted, to clarify that I recognize & accept the responsibility for how terrible it is,” he wrote, adding that it would be “wrong” to try and “explain” anything.
He continued, “I think that causes a further breaking down in folks’ trust. Let me please spend the energy on how wrong I know it is to exploit a despicable, racist trope in the supposed spirit of humor. I do know better, but again, no excuses.”
BD Wong Threads
“Very sorry for the hurt I’ve caused & for taking so lightly something so deeply injurious,” Wong concluded.
Wong, who most recently appeared in the September 25 premiere episode of SVU‘s current 27th season, is also known for his roles as Father Ray Mukada in Oz, Whiterose/Minister Zhi Zhang on Mr. Robot, and Professor Hugo Strange on Gotham. On film, he’s made notable appearances in the Jurassic World franchise.
Before issuing an apology for his controversial joke, Wong tried to explain the post, per news site Very Asian. Responding to users who called the joke “racist” and “disappointing,” Wong allegedly said, “Well, it said wrong answers only, but I could see why people wouldn’t get that, so I deleted it real quick, but yeah, that was the dumb idea.”