By Jane Han
NEW YORK — People across the United States view a recent race scandal involving Papa John’s against a Korean woman as an unsavory episode. But for Koreans, it’s more than just an unfortunate incident.
“This shows how much racism is still alive and well in America,” said David Choi, 21, a student at New York University. “It’s something that we should take seriously.”
Papa John’s, a U.S. pizza chain, came under scrutiny late last week when an employee at one of its New York locations referred to a Korean woman as “lady chinky eyes.”
Customer Cho Min-hee, a 24-year-old Korean-American, ordered pizza and checked her receipt, only to find that the cashier had typed the racial slur as her name.
Cho, a communications manager at a New York firm, didn’t keep quiet about it.
She took the issue to Twitter, posting “Hey @Papajohns just FYI my name isn’t ‘lady chinky eyes,”’ along with a picture of the receipt.
Just hours later, more than 100,000 people had viewed her post and hundreds retweeted, instantly grabbing the attention of media outlets nationwide.
Koreans and Korean-Americans in the United States were particularly upset over the incident, with some even proposing online a boycott against the pizza chain.
“Just when racism seemed to be a thing of the past, Papa John’s decides to go the other way,” says Lee Hae-nam, 33, a realtor in Manhattan. “The expression chinky eyes is a classic insult for Asians.”
Kim Jung-yeon, a member of the Korean American Association of Greater New York, says with regret, “Times have changed but racism is still something many minorities have to live with in this country.”
As criticism spread online, Papa John’s tried to control the damage by posting an official apology on its Twitter and Facebook accounts.
“We were extremely concerned to learn of the receipt issue in New York,” the company stated on Facebook. “This act goes against our company values, and we’ve confirmed with the franchisee that this matter was addressed immediately and that the employee is being terminated.”
Despite the apology, workers at the pizza store blamed Cho for the negative publicity.
“It’s a busy place, and it was a way to identify her and her order,” said a manager at the restaurant, according to a local paper. “You know, we do stuff like that sometimes. We’ll write ‘the lady with the blue eyes,’ or ‘the guy in the green shirt.’”