The Talk cohost and Big Brother host Julie Chen opened up about her feelings following racist comments made 22-year-old contestant Aaryn Gries, who openly slammed Asian-American housemate, Helen Kim.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, discussed her feelings Monday morning on The Talk following CBS’ decision to air Gries’ out-right racist comments towards Kim, which included her saying she should “be kissing our a** and serving us some f***ing rice” and talking in a fake Asian accent about doing nails.
Chen explained, “When I first heard found out that Aaryn [Gries], who is a 22-year-old girl, made anti-gay, anti-black and anti-Asian comments, I have to be honest, the Asian ones hit me the most. I heard about her describing Asians as 'squinty-eyed' and 'go make a bowl of rice.”
“It stung,” she adds. “I took it personally; I'm a human being. The really sad part was it took me back to the '70s when I was growing up in Queens and when I was 7 years old being bullied being called a chink and people pulling their eyes. But it took me back so many years and I thought to myself: Wow I haven't heard comments like that.”
Continuing she notes, “The year is 2013 … and then I felt ignorant. Wow, there are people who still live in this country who feel that way and act that way. Yes, there is. Yes, there is. And afterward, it just made me sad because she's 22 and she's college-educated."
Gries is unaware that since her comments were made public knowledge she has been dropped from her modeling contract and magazine Bella Petite has decided to pull their support for the Texas native and remove all of her pictures from their future publications.
Images: CBS