On December 18, Rafu Shimpo published a statement from MANAA criticizing the casual racism found in the movie “Licorice Pizza”, and asked film critic associations to withhold nominations for awards this season. The reaction has been swift, with a number of media outlets echoing MANAA’s concerns and quoting from the statement, including:
Entertainment Weekly: “Asian media watchdog group calls for awards boycott of Licorice Pizza”
TheWrap: “Asian Activist Org Calls for ‘Licorice Pizza’ Awards Boycott”
TMZ: “P.T. Anderson’s ‘Licorice Pizza’ Opens Wide in Theaters … Racism, Pedo Criticism Resurfaces”
DailyMail: “Licorice Pizza garners Twitter controversy upon its wide theatrical release over racist behavior and age gap in romantic comedy”
Newsday: “Asian American Activist group calls awards boycott of ‘Licorice Pizza’
New York Post: “Asian activist group demands boycott of ‘Licorice Pizza’ over ‘racist’ scenes
NBC News: “Asian activist group calls for awards boycott of ‘Licorice Pizza’ for fake Asian accent