Media outlets incorrectly used photos of Randall Park to announce actor Ali Wong's divorce, renewing the #WrongAsian debate on Twitter
- Media outlets incorrectly used photos of actor Randall Park in stories about Ali Wong's divorce.
- Parade Magazine and MSN were among the outlets who made the blunders.
When Ali Wong announced she's divorcing her husband Justin Hakuta earlier this week, some media outlets incorrectly used photos of Asian-American actor Randall Park to share the news.
The mistakes have sparked outrage on social media and renewed the trending Twitter topic #WrongAsian, with users decrying yet another case of a minority group member being misidentified in the media.
Sharing a screenshot of a now-deleted tweet by Parade Magazine, which featured a picture of Wong and Park, blogger and author Phil Yu tweeted on Wednesday: "Come on! Can we not ruin the news of Ali Wong's divorce with Wrong Asian racism?"
Later, he pointed out how MSN made a similar error with a tweet featuring a picture of Park. Neither Wong nor Hakuta is depicted next to a headline about their divorce.
Besides expressing their anger at the blunders, some users mocked the outlets by sharing Wong's divorce headline alongside photos of other stars, including everyone from John Krasinski to Scarlett Johansson.
"In their defense, Justin [Hakuta] and Randall Park were both Asian on the same night this one time," a doctor tweeted in jest, alongside two photos of the three at the same event. The pictures were taken on the red carpet for the premiere of the 2019 romantic comedy "Always Be My Maybe," which starred Wong and Park.
On Wednesday, Parade Magazine issued its "sincere apologies" via Twitter.
"We understand how hurtful this photo mistake was and the impact it can have, and we sincerely regret it. We would like to apologize to Ali Wong, Justin Hakuta, Randall Park, and everyone who may have been hurt by our error. We will implement stronger measures going forward to make sure it doesn't happen again," the magazine tweeted.
MSN did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Wong and Hakuta met in 2010 and were married in 2014. They have two children together.
Previously, the Twitter topic #WrongAsian highlighted other instances of Asians being misidentified.