A Buzzfeed reporter has raised a ruckus on Twitter recently after issuing a “friendly reminder” regarding the proper etiquette of celebrating the Lunar New Year.
“Friendly reminder that you don’t get to celebrate lunar new year unless you’re literally from a country that does or if you are invited by someone who is from a country that does,” tweeted Kassy Cho, a producer and reporter who runs the Buzzfeed World Instagram account, on Thursday.
friendly reminder that you don't get to celebrate lunar new year unless you're literally from a country that does or if you are invited by someone who is from a country that does
— kassy cho (@kassy) February 6, 2019
At the moment, Cho’s tweet has quite the ratio of 213 retweets, 1,600 likes, and 6,200 comments.
As you might expect, most of these comments don’t agree with Cho’s cultural appropriation take. Many Twitter users of Asian and Chinese descent have instead welcomed others to take part in Lunar New Year festivities while others have mocked Cho’s mindset, called her reminder less than friendly, and declared that they will celebrate what they want.
friendly reminder that I hereby formally invite everyone to celebrate lunar new year
— Andy Wang (@AdequateAndy) February 7, 2019
Me, a white male born in the US, celebrating the hell out of the Chinese New Year… pic.twitter.com/tPi6kF8RtO
— Paul Sacca (@Paul_Sacca) February 7, 2019
Friendly reminder Kassy Cho doesn’t represent all of us.
— Jason (@JasonLuiCamera) February 7, 2019
friendly reminder that you don’t get to use the word ratio unless you’re literally a native speaker of latin https://t.co/OHnpsR93Q5
— Brendan O’Kane (@bokane) February 7, 2019
My wife is Chinese but she didn’t invite me. So I stood in the kitchen watching her eat dumplings
— James Harris (@JamesHarrisNow) February 8, 2019
Perhaps the best response comes from a Scottish comedian who called Cho out for once highlighting how good Taiwanese parents are at dressing their kids up for Halloween.
Can you explain why you celebrate Halloween (Samhain, a celtic festival) and you even have the gall to write several articles about how Taiwan does it the best?
Unless you are from a celtic nation or a celt invites you, you don't get to celebrate it.https://t.co/LifLIaHyoZ
— Count Dankula🏴 (@CountDankulaTV) February 7, 2019
