Watch: Local content creator under fire for trying hard to look more ‘Japanese’ by taping his eyes when promoting Sushi restaurant

Creating content is not easy, but this is not an excuse for content creators to insert racial jokes into them.

Recently, a TikTok user @ceobatu, who is well known for creating funny content and doing collaboration as well as reviews, has come under from netizens for his latest video that features a local sushi restaurant.

While the video is an ad for the restaurant promoting its newest branch opening in Penang with the food looking good and appetizing, his jokes did not go well among netizens.

Wah @ceobatu dah datang ke Nippon Sushi Penang! Korang bila nak mai singgah? 😆

Mari pakat sama-sama bawa famili dan rakan-rakan makan masakan Jepun yang dijamin halal ini dekat outlet pertama Nippon Sushi yang terletak di Utara. pic.twitter.com/dVU4BWz7xr

— Nippon Sushi Malaysia (@nipponsushi_my) July 31, 2022

In the video, it started with a commenter asking, “Batu, have you ever eaten Japanese food?” in Japanese. It was obvious that he is trying to read the comment confidently in the language.

In his made-up pronunciation, he jokingly said ‘ike ike’ which is a Japanese curse word.

As if that wasn’t disrespectful enough, further in the video, the man had his eyes taped to the side to make them slant. It is believed that he did this to appear more ‘Japanese’.

The video has since gained a huge backlash from netizens who took to the comment section to criticise the content creator for inserting racial elements in the video.

“He has a lot of followers but I don’t think this is the right way to promote your food. No need to use such cheap gimmicks. If you are promoting Japanese food, please respect their culture. Is it necessary for you to bring up the slanted eyes in the video?” Malaysian food blogger Ceddy said.

“This is embarrassing and cringe, especially the eyes. It looks offensive and disrespectful. He appeared to be trying hard but can you create better ads that don’t involve racism?” another netizen asked.

“Seriously? [Curse word]? Slanted eyes? Plus, you’re using the language wrong. Oshii means regrettable. So you’re saying their food is terrible, then? Now, oishii, that one means good,” one netizen commented.

At the time of writing, neither the restaurant nor Batu has issued a statement responding to the backlashes. However, Batu’s social media has been suspended due to people reporting it on Twitter.

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