Entertainment- Last week,
Simu Liu revealed his negative experiences behind the scenes on "Kim's Convenience." - His costar
Jean Yoon has now tweeted that her experience on the show was "painful." - Yoon said some storylines were "overtly racist," while producers were resistant to the cast's input.
The production of "Kim's Convenience" has come under fire once again after Jean Yoon joined her costar Simu Liu in criticizing what went on behind the scenes of the popular show.
Yoon, who played Mrs. Yong-mi Kim, or "Umma," in the show posted a series of tweets in response to an article about Liu's revealing Facebook post following the fifth and final series airing on Netflix.
Yoon explained that "the lack of Asian female, especially Korean writers in the writers' room of Kim's made my life VERY DIFFICULT & the experience of working on the show painful."
-Jean Yoon (윤 진 희 or 尹真姬) (@jean_yoon) June 6, 2021
"Kim's Convenience," which follows a Korean-Canadian working tirelessly to run a convenience store, was created by Kevin White and Ins Choi, based on the play of the same name written by Choi. But Yoon tweeted that it was White who was "clearly the showrunner" and the one who "set the parameters."
Yoon said that White's control "became a crisis" in between seasons four and five as Choi began to have less of a presence on set. She added that when the cast received their season five scripts, they found some storylines to be "overtly racist" and "so extremely culturally inaccurate that the cast came together and expressed concerns collectively."
Insider has reached out to representatives for Kevin White and Netflix for comment.
-Jean Yoon (윤 진 희 or 尹真姬) (@jean_yoon) June 6, 2021
Choi was then brought back in to resume creative control of the show, and Yoon felt the "core values" of the show returned while most of the offensive jokes were cut.
Yoon described one scene in particular that she found to be offensive: a scene where her character Mrs. Kim wears nude-colored shorts to a Zumba class and Pastor Nina, who comes to pick her up for the class, is scared to tell her she looks naked from the waist down. Mr. Kim eventually tells her she looks naked.
"No one, esp. Mrs. Kim, would be unaware that a garment makes her look naked. Unless she is suddenly cognitively impaired. Or STUPID," Yoon tweeted.
"Stripping someone naked is the first act before public humiliation or rape. So what was so funny about that? At my request, Mr. Choi cut he scene."
-Jean Yoon (윤 진 희 or 尹真姬) (@jean_yoon) June 6, 2021
Yoon went on to tweet that had this scene been included in the episode, it would have aired just hours after six Asian women were shot in Atlanta in the March 16 hate crime.
"THIS IS WHY IT MATTERS. If an Asian actor says, 'Hey this isn't cool,' then maybe should just fix it, and say THANK YOU," Yoon wrote.
-Jean Yoon (윤 진 희 or 尹真姬) (@jean_yoon) June 6, 2021
Yoon tweeted that the cast collectively pressed for greater inclusion and
Her costar Simu Liu, who will be starring in the MCU's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," last week wrote a lengthy Facebook that Yoon's comments now echo. Liu wrote that the "overwhelmingly white" writers' room and producers of the show never gave the Asian cast the chance to share their own stories or pitch ideas.
Liu also wrote that the characters in the show never seemed to grow and that, given her popular the series was, the cast were paid "horsepoop rate."