'Everything Everywhere All at Once' star James Hong recalls Hollywood's racist past and roasts the crowd in SAG award acceptance speech
- "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star James Hong gave a powerful speech at the 2023 SAG awards.
- In his speech, the 94-year-old called out Hollywood's history of racism and roasted the audience.
"Everything Everywhere All at Once" star James Hong gave a rousing and memorable speech while accepting an award at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday.
After the Daniels' critically-acclaimed 2022 film won the award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, Hong and his costars Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Harry Shum Jr., and Jamie Lee Curtis headed onstage for their speech.
Curtis, Yeoh, Hsu, and Quan briefly introduced Hong, whom, they noted, had been acting professionally for over half a century. The 94-year-old actor then stepped up to the mic and began his speech.
In his acceptance speech, Hong noted that the industry has changed quite a bit from when he made his first movie with Clark Gable.
"Back in those days, I have to tell you, there's 'The Good Earth,' the leading role was played by these guys with their eyes taped up like this, who talk like this," Hong said, imitating the racist, stereotypical portrayal of Asian characters in films at the time. "The producer said the Asians are not good enough, and they are not box office."
"But look at us now," Hong added, gesturing to the primarily Asian cast of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" standing around him onstage.
Hong continued his speech to numerous bouts of applause and cheers from the audience, joking that Jamie Lee is a "good Chinese name," teasing the audience that they didn't understand "all of" the film, and praising the cast and crew of "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
"I hope I will come back when I'm 100 years old," Hong said near the end of his speech.
You can watch the entire speech in the video below (Hong's portion begins around the 2:49 mark).