Yellow Face still rampant: The Mikado Controversy

Just a list of links so far, but this documents the ongoing controversy over yellowface on stage, lit off by an editorial on the Seattle Times op-ed page, decrying the use of 38 white and two Latino actors, but no Asian actors, in the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society's production of The Mikado. (No editorial content, mainly because The Revue is smack dab in the middle of the action)

The Fuse is Lit

• The original editorial from Seattle Times' Sharon Chan: “ The yellowface of ‘The Mikado’ in your face.”

The Brew bubbles: First Reactions

• The Gilbert and Sullivan Society's response to the editorial.
  
• Sharon Chan's reaction after seeing the show:  ‘The Mikado,’ yellowface and seeing the Seattle show”
• Dave Ross (a cast member) and his defense of the show (and it can only be described as dunderheaded): Seattle Times editorial columnist and Dave Ross go head-to-head over “yellow face” in “The Mikado”

The Community Reacts

• Prof. Josephine Lee's academic underpinnings to objections to "The Mikado"
• The Revue commenting (in a rather dull fashion) on the controversy.(Sorry, but it IS about 25 minutes or so....)
  
• Former Mu Artistic Director, Rick Shiomi, who created a 2013 Minneapolis version of “The Mikado” without stereotypes or yellowface acting: “Making ‘The Mikado’ without Asian stereotypes”
• Westfield State University Professor Robin DiAngelo who writes about whiteness and white fragility: “What does it mean to be white?”
• Community heavyweight Jeff Yang comments on CNN: “Yellowface staging of ‘Mikado’ has to end”
• Super-heavyweight The Angry Asian Man weighs in: “Real-life yellowface! Now playing in Seattle”
• International Examiner editorial board: ” ‘The Mikado’ controversy an opportunity to create and educate”
• ReAppropriate guest post by Sean Miura: “Undoing ‘Mikado’: Japan is not an imaginary place, and I am not a metaphor”
• Bo Lim, an associate professor of Old Testament at Seattle Pacific University, used “The Mikado” to discuss about stereotypes still used in evangelical teachings in a post for the Sojourners website: “Why Evangelicals Should Care About ‘The Mikado’ Controversy If They Care About Reconciliation in the Church”
• WQRX, the New York classical music rado station, news story: ” ‘Asian blackface’ in ‘The Mikado” stirs controversy in Seattle”
  

The wider community makes comments

• NPR segment by Sam Sander: “Why We’ve Been Seeing More ‘Yellowface’ In Recent Months”
  
• NPR Codeswitch’s Kat Chow also did an online chat: “Roundtable: The Past And Present Of ‘Yellowface’ “
• MSNBC news segment by anchor Richard Lui: “Stereotypes in ‘The Mikado’ Stir Controversy in Seattle”
  
• Seattle Times commentary by theater critic Misha Berson: “The ‘Mikado’ controversy: A call for calm discourse”
• The Atlantic commentary by Gwynn Guilford: “It’s time to stop using ‘exoticism’ as an excuse for opera’s racism”
• Seattle's groundlevel rag The Stranger comments by Brendan Kiley: The problem with The Mikado
• CBC Radio segment by host Stephen Quinn: “The Mikado controversy: Does opera have a race problem?”
  
• NBCNews.com: "Stereotypes in ‘The Mikado’ Stir Controversy in Seattle"
  

Sometimes, humor is the best approach

• YOMYOMF  “6 Times When it’s OK for white people to don yellow face”
• The 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors explains the controversy in Yellow Face Rock.
  

The ultimate expression

• Erin Quill nails it, with a Little List parody and a devasting argument, that ends
  The Mikado is not racist
  How you do it can be racist.
  

The contagion spreads

• Providence Opera does The Mikado
• Petition to protest
  
• And Providence Opera basically tells critics to STFU
  

Seattle community follow up (where The Revue makes just one pithy comment)

• Livestream of the event itself (2 hours)
  
• Seattle Times story
  
• Sharon Chan's report
  
• The Stranger's report
  
• NBC News report
• Office of Art & Culture Seattle follow-up session for all arts groups