🌊 Brownface backlash

We've got the dirt on the brownfaced actress.

Buenos días.

I’m reporting to you from Galicia, a region located in the northern bit of Spain, where I’ll be staying for a month to focus on my dream of picking up (yet) another language and picking up (yet) another job so I can afford to live and continue to run High Tide and Harbour Times *insert obligatory plea for you to become a paying subscriber so HT doesn’t go under*.

One of our lovely subscribers, Carsten Schael, has already recommended I visit Porto which is not too far from me. I’d love to meet a fan of ours someday!

— Jasmine Lee

P.S. Today’s Tide was literally too long for email so I had to take the Events section out! I promise our Juicy Juicy Secret today will make up for it.

carstenschael

A post shared by Carsten Schael (@carstenschael)

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On Today’s Tide

1. TV | An actress in Filipino brownface for a TV show? Yikes.

2. COVID-19 | Updates on new cases, deaths, and lockdowns.

3. Politics | John Lee submits nominations for the Chief Executive race.

For premium High Tide readers:

1. Media | Is it the end of Hong Kong’s largest journalist association?

2. Government | 470,000 applications for the latest Unemployment Scheme.

3. Protests | An activist gets a jail sentence for organising an unauthorised assembly. Teachers get disqualified over protest-related complaints.

4. A Juicy Juicy Secret | We know something about the brownface actor that you don’t 👀

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Filipino brownface in TVB program given… appraisal?

TV

A photo of Franchesca Wong that is neither in poor taste nor embarrassing whatsoever. Photo: lamkingching via Instagram screenshot.

A TVB series called “Barrack O’Karma 2” (I don’t have the time nor energy to even ask about the name) cast a Canadian-Hongkonger who is not Filipina to play a Filipina domestic worker, and some people really thought this was an OK choice.

Screenshot from Hong Kong Free Press.

Considering the stark economic and social inequalities most ethnic minorities in HK face, especially foreign domestic workers, this is a bad move. They could have hired a Filipinx-identifying actor. There is no dearth of these in the HK film industry.

Also, really Franchesca? As someone who’s also from Canada, I know she knows better than this.

She’s from Calgary though, so maybe she doesn’t know any better.

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COVID in HK

Hong Kong SAR Government News @newsgovhk

The Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating 1,272 additional #COVID19 cases. The Government will supply free COVID-19 #RapidAntigenTest kits to the elderly from April 19 to May 31 #RAT news.gov.hk/eng/2022/04/20…

• New cases: 1,272

• Deaths: 62 (8,948 total)

More COVID-19 news

• Testing is required for those who have been to 40 specified places in the designated period (see Annex for details).

• Overnight lockdowns have found 11 positive cases.

• Children between the age of three and 11 will be able to book an appointment for a Sinovac booster today.

• Free rapid tests will be provided to the elderly from 19 April (Tuesday) to 31 May.

• Supermarket prices have risen 4.2% during the fifth wave.

• Police handed out nearly $90 million in pandemic rule-breaking fines.

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John Lee hands in Chief Executive election bid

Politics

Ex-chief secretary John Lee has sent in his nominations for May’s Chief Executive election. He has submitted his bid with the support of 786 members of 1,500-person Election Committee; applicants need only 188 nominations to be eligible to run.

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