Hong Kong-based actress Franchesca Wong Yuen-wah who played the lead in a television drama “Barrack O’Kama 2” has apologized for darkening her skin to portray the role of a Filipino domestic helper.
The television drama faced backlash after Wong wore brown face for her character as Filipino domestic helper “Louisa.”
“I sincerely apologize to all who have been negatively affected in any way by the seventh chapter ‘Jei Hei’ of the Barrack O’Karma 1968 drama series, and my role in it,” Franchesca Wong said in a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday, April 20.
However, the television network TVB had yet to issue a statement.
Portraying a colored face that isn’t yours — whether brownface, blackface, yellowface — is considered racist as it mocks, dehumanizes and belittles other cultures.
The Hong Kong actress said it took some time for her to “process her emotions, reflect” and had to speak to members of the community and listen to the “many voices” who reached out to her.
“I have learned through this incident that professionally trying my best to analyze, interpret and act a given role to fulfill the storyline, is only part of the job,” Wong said.
Wong, who is also a Canadian citizen, said it has been a “challenging experience to be at the center of a lesson that art reflects deeply entrenched social attitutes.”
“I genuinely have no intention to disrespect or racially discriminate any ethnic group, please forgive me for getting it wrong,” Wong said.
“I am truly sorry that my insensitivities have offended and hurt. I am committed more than ever to using my acting for the good of the community,” she added.
The Philippine consul general to Hong Kong had earlier slammed the TVB drama series as “downright ignorant, insensitive and totally disgusting.”
“It cannot be denied that the portrayal of the Filipino elder and use of brownface reinforces negative stereotypes that characterize the ‘Ban Mui’ — an offensive Cantonese slang,” Consul General Raly Tejada said.
Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, an alliance of non-government groups of migrants in Hong Kong, also said they are “very offended” by the TVB series which portrayed migrant domestic helpers as “dark-skinned liars, seducers and witches.”
“We are affronted by the use of ‘dark skin’ as a device to portray a domestic worker. This is not only inaccurate, as not all domestic workers have dark skin tone, but also outright racist. Such portrayal plays up the discrimination (migrant domestic workers) face on a daily basis in a so-called modern world city like Hong Kong. It sharpens the division between us and our employers and stirs up bias against MDWs, as if we are different beings,” the group said.