Members of the San Diego Asian American community are asking organizers of a costume contest during an Asian bar crawl to cancel the contest out of fears it will feature stereotypical caricatures of AAPIs.
In a letter to the organizers, the group is threatening to boycott the event if the costume contest is not cancelled.
The event is planned for this Sunday. Opponents of the event say they only found out about it yesterday.
In its letter the group wrote:
While the costume ideas may be seen as a joke or are intended to be “for fun” at the event, they are horribly offensive and inaccurate representations for many Asians and Asian Americans. They reduce Asian cultures and traditions to a few stale, narrow stereotypes.
In the spirit of celebrating and respecting these cultures and their histories, we ask that you hold off on the “sexy geisha kimono.” Your costume suggestions are blatantly misogynistic and racist.
In fact, we ask that you remove the entire costume portion of the bar crawl.
You can read more about the event and the letter in its entirety on Facebook.
