I’ve been waiting for this. After Pete Hoekstra’s “Debbie Spend it NOW” Super Bowl ad that aired in Michigan, I just knew that the actor who played the semi-fluent Chinese woman would come forward. When any job is offered to a young actor, it has to be exciting. It would be easy not to think it through very well. Afterward, however, it must have been really embarrassing.
It turns out, the actor is right in my backyard. This in itself kind of bugs me. Why can’t Michigan produce its own political commercials? They have actors and directors and grips. It makes me think that even local politics has lost all its links to the community.
The actor’s name is Lisa Chan. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley as well as the 2012 Miss Napa Valley in the Miss California USA Pageant. And she founded The Strive, an NPO that helps at-risk kids. On her Facebook page, she wrote an apology. Note that it’s a real apology rather than, “I am sorry if my clearly unoffensive comments offended people who have no sense of humor or perspective.”
I’ll admit that I empathized with her before the apology. But in this place and time, a straight mea culpa is really touching. It made me cry. (Not that this is unusual for this time of the morning.)
