Vol. 71/No. 11      March 19, 2007

Demonstrators carried signs calling for a boycott of the television station and demanded an apology.

The protest was sparked by a January 29 CW11 news report that a customer allegedly found something resembling “mouse meat” in a chicken and rice order from New Food King restaurant in Canarsie, Brooklyn. The report included statements such as “disgusting find,” “sickening surprise,” “nasty dining experience,” and “rodent slathered in garlic sauce.”

A January 31 follow-up report included statements by a “professional food inspector” who supposedly tested the meat to prove the station’s allegations. Channel 11 did not allow the restaurant’s owner, You Yong, to examine the “mystery meat.”

The February 26 protest was the second one organized by Chinese and other local Asian American groups to respond to the allegations. Protesters said the Channel 11 report perpetuated racist prejudices and derogatory stereotypes against Chinese.

“This is not the first time that CW11 has engaged in this kind of story,” New York City councilman John Liu told the Village Voice. He pointed to an unsubstantiated story aired by the station in 2001 about a Korean restaurant serving dog meat. A lawsuit against the TV station was dropped two years later after Channel 11 issued an apology.

The owners of New Food King restaurant have filed a lawsuit against CW11, its parent company, the Tribune Company, reporter Chris Glorioso, and anchor Kaity Tong. The suit charges defamation and slander, and asks for $2 million in damages and legal costs.

Attorney John Yong, who is representing the restaurant in the suit, told the media that since CW11 aired its first story the restaurant has received dozens of racist phone calls from people ordering mouse meat and telling the owners to “go back to China.”

“The Chinese community in the United States used to be a silent minority, but this time it is out shouting,” said John Du, a member of the U.S.-China Lawyers Society. “I think it is very good.”
 
 
Related articles:
The untold story of Chinese Canadians  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home