Asian Boss
- Asian Boss
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- Stephen Park
- Kei Ibaraki
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- current issues
- social commentary
- documentary
Last updated: 13 Jul 2022
Asian Boss is a YouTube channel, founded in 2013, which discusses issues related to Asia.[2]
History
Asian Boss was founded in 2013 by Stephen Park, a former corporate lawyer, and Kei Ibaraki, a former architect, after they witnessed the "growing divide" in society. Neither of them had video editing experience at the time, and they studied by watching tutorials on YouTube.
Park said many of the videos were demonetized by YouTube for being politically sensitive, and thus they had to rely on investors to fund operations.[3]
In a 2019 interview, Ibaraki said that because of significant media bias on certain topics, the channel would stay as neutral as possible to allow interviewees to speak freely, and would go to great lengths to find respondents with opposing opinions.[2] The channel is targeted for an English-speaking global audience interested in Asia, and 30 percent of its views came from the U.S.[2]
In 2019, the channel released a video interviewing the people of Beijing on whether actor Simu Liu was "too ugly" to portray superhero Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which was released in 2021. Liu responded to the video by calling it a "very teachable moment" about facing rejection and doubt from others, and suggested that the channel should tackle topics with "more journalistic and creative integrity." The video was later removed from YouTube.[4][5]
In 2020, The Japan Times named Asian Boss an example of overseas-based YouTube channels that attempt to gain real insight into the lives and opinions of Japanese.[6]
In January 2021, Park in a video said the channel was close to shutting down, as many of their investors had gone out of business, and announced the channel's GoFundMe page,[7][3] which has a funding goal of $700,000. As of February 4, 2021, more than $745,000 in donations was received.[3][8]
In 2022, Taiwan News reported on accusations that Asian Boss attempted to pre-screen street interviewees in Ximending, Taipei for Kuomintang viewpoints after obtaining interviews from the perspective of the Democratic Progressive Party.[9]
References
- ^ a b "About Asian Boss". YouTube.
- ^ a b c Lukman, Josa (November 5, 2019). "Kei Ibaraki: Busting Asian stereotypes by the upload". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
- ^ a b c Tan, Joycelyn (January 26, 2021). "Asian Boss Turns To Crowdfunding After These 3 Factors Led To Their Potential Shutdown". vulcanpost.com. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ^ Kimberly Yam (August 12, 2019). "Simu Liu Responds To Critics Who Claim He's 'Too Ugly' To Play Shang-Chi". HuffPost. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
- ^ Christian Fußy (August 19, 2019). "Zu hässlich fürs MCU? "Shang Chi"-Star kommentiert bescheuerte YouTube-Umfrage mit ordentlich Stil". filmstarts.de (in German). Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ Michel, Patrick St (March 7, 2020). "YouTube content that attempts to find real Japanese opinions". The Japan Times. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
- ^ Angela Donato (January 25, 2021). "Global Media Company Asian Boss Is In Danger Of Shutting Down". The Beacon. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ Grace Kim (March 15, 2021). "NextShark: 'I failed as a leader': Asian Boss Founder Reveals Nearly Half of Remaining Employees Resigned". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ Everington, Keoni (January 12, 2022). "Asian Boss accused of seeking pro-KMT viewpoints for Taiwan street interviews". Taiwan News. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
External links
- Official website
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