Just when you thought the uproar over The Interview and the Sony hack was over, Margaret Cho brought it back at last night's Golden Globes. The comedian dressed like a North Korean general to play the newest member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Cho Young Ja. Her mock HFPA membership stemmed from her job at the magazine, Movies Wow!, and many viewers did not take kindly to it.
"How do you make fun of North Korea via impressions without coming off as broadly racist?" @AlexJamesFitz tweeted after Cho tried to take a selfie with Meryl Streep. "Wow this is some of the most racist shit I've ever seen on tv @margaretcho. Didn't you fight your whole career to avoid being a stereotype?" @MurseOfTheYear wrote.
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Cho stands behind the character. "I'm of mixed North/South Korean descent - you imprison, starve and brainwash my people you get made fun of by me #hatersgonhate #FreeSpeech," she tweeted this morning. Many fans stood behind her, responding that "[I]t was funny as hell" and "You're the obvious choice to host next year!"
The hosts agreed. "At the end of the night, Fey and Poehler said they wanted the Cho character to host the Globes next year," USA Today reported.
This isn't the first time Tina Fey and Margaret Cho have teamed up to spoof North Korea. Cho guest-starred as a version of the late Kim Jong-il on 30 Rock and also as Kim Jong-un, which earned her an Emmy nomination.