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Filipino joke isn’t so funny

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Teri HatcherThis gets filed under: Be careful what you joke about on TV, because someone is going to get upset.  On Sunday night’s episode of “Desperate Housewives”, there was a joke made regarding the quality of a Philippine medical education.  Only, no one is laughing now because now we’ve got some angry Filipinos who want an apology from ABC and the show’s creators.

In case you’re missing what scene I’m referring to, think back to when Susan went in to see the gynocologist (who ended up being her new neighbor, the fabulous Nathan Fillion).  She was told by him that he thought she might be entering menopause as an explanation for her strange hormone levels.  Susan was enraged at the mere suggestion and fired back with, “OK, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren’t, like, from some med school in the Philippines?”

This prompted many viewers to call in to ABC to complain and as of last night, there were no less than 30,000 names attached to an online petition calling for ABC  to apologize.  Part of the petition read, “A statement that devalues Filipinos in healthcare is extremely unfounded, considering the overwhelming presence of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the medical field.”

ABC responded on Wednesday with a statement, “The producers of `Desperate Housewives’ and ABC Studios offer our sincere apologies for any offense caused by the brief reference in the season premiere. There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines.”  There was even rumblings about the episode being edited to remove the “joke”.

Sounds like a good plan, as this got quite a few people riled up.  The story even topped the news shows in the Philippines and was splashed on newspaper headlines.  Sounds as though ABC made some big mistakes indeed and maybe a more substantial apology is in order.


2 Responses to “Filipino joke isn’t so funny”

  1. Desperate Housewives » Blog Archive » What’s coming up Sunday Says:

    [...] news week for “Desperate Housewives”. Much of the news out there has been about the Filipino med school “joke” in the premiere episode and the resulting furor. It’s been hard to find new news to dish up to you, so I apologize [...]

  2. TV News | Desperate Housewives, Lost, Ugly Betty and more « Because we like talking about TV as much as you do… Says:

    [...] Desperate Housewives | The US network ABC has been forced to apologise for this scene, shown last Sunday, which pokes fun at medical education in the [...]

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