Monday’s episode of How I Met Your Mother has fans on Twitter complaining, but not because it didn’t have anything to do with the main story of Ted meeting his future bride. The episode was faced with racism allegations and the creators of the show acknowledge that and apologized.
In the episode, titled “Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra,” Marshall (Jason Segel) tells Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) outrageous stories about how he learned the art of slapping. This involved going to a Kung Fu teacher and going to China, where he learned the secrets. Unfortunately, all the secrets he learned came from the main cast all made up to look like Asians. At the end of the episode, Marshall finally gets to slap Barney just before Barney’s wedding and Boyz II Men make an appearance.
“Yellowface? Orientalism? Fu Manchu? What?” said one Twitter user, notes CNN. “Not okay @cbs.” Others used the hashtag “#HowIMetYourRacism” on the social networking site.
On Wednesday, creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas used Bays’ Twitter page to send a lengthy apology.
“With Monday's episode, we set out to make a silly and unabashedly immature homage to Kung Fu movies, a genre we’ve always loved,” the two executive producers wrote. “But along the way we offended people. We're deeply sorry, and we’re grateful to everyone who spoke up to make us aware of it.”
Their statement continued, “We try to make a show that's universal, that anyone can watch and enjoy. We fell short of that this week, and feel terrible about it. To everyone we offended, I hope we can regain your friendship, and end this series on a note of goodwill. Thanks.”
How I Met Your Mother is in its ninth and final season and airs on CBS Mondays at 8 p.m.
image: CBS