Being humiliated and rejected on national TV is the best thing that ever happened to William Hung. It made him an instant posterboy for everyone who has ever pursued an unlikely dream. Not only has the Hung Man been on every talk show and news program, he has become a local celeb at UC Berkeley and has inspired fansites across the internet. His reward is a deal with Fuse records to reprise his unforgettable rendition of She Bangs and other Ricky Martin favorites.

The only problem is, many Asian Americans have the sneaking suspicion that William Hung is being used as a real-life reprisal of the clueless geek played by Gedde Watanabe in Sixteen Candles.

Is Hung a role model for everyone who has never dared to follow his impossible dream or is he a joke perpetrated at our expense?

Well at least Long Duck Dong (or whatever) got a babe in Sixteen Candles, a rather large babe, but a babe nonetheless. There was at least a silver lining for Asian-Ams in those days. As far as William Hung is concerned, I wouldn't know, since I don't watch TV.

But I do think Willian Hung can be put to better use, since he's sooooo damn close to these people in the media that see Asians as a threat. Hehehehe.

Oh my now we think William Hung is an Uncle Tom. An Asian version of Bambozzle.

I think we should just be happy for the guy and not read too much into it. I think it is a win win situation.

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His reward is a deal with Fuse records to reprise his unforgettable rendition of She Bangs and other Ricky Martin favorites.

I think Will would be much better off doing Frank Sinatra's "My Way." At least he is doing it his way, of his own free will. One cannot get too caught up with the "bad apples" portrayed on media. Just imagine what Danny Devito, Carrot Top (?), Cheech Marin along with any other short stubby comic types do to the self-image of others, yet they don't seem too traumatized by it... I don't or wouldn't think so.

William Hung is a JOKE: I will explain.

The first time I heard "SHE BANGS", I had bought the cd from a Chinese market in Hang Zhou and I was listening to it on the airplane ride home to America. I thought it was a hot song because Ricky Martin had an excellent singing voice. However, this is the type of song that has to be sung with a certain intonation and a certain tamber; notanyone can sing it.

I listened to William Hung sing the song and I was MORTIFIED.
Did anyone of you see RUSH HOUR 2 When that HongKonger was droning out Michael Jackson's beat and Christ Tucker took over to do it right? Well basically this was WORSE.

William doesn't sing the song with the emotion needed or the accent needed. He sounds HORRID.

I can definately respect him for having the guts to go on national tv and embarrass himself but, I really am dissapointed in whoever gave him the impression he had what it took to compete on American Idol. I think I'll stick to Ricky Martin's singing.

BTW
Did anyone catch that American Idol commercial with the Chinese girl singing SOMETHING and then Simon stops her and says
"That was Bloody awful". LOL

I've noticed that on American Idol, the Asian females have a better chance than the males. There were a couple Phillipinas on there who really did well.

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I listened to William Hung sing the song and I was MORTIFIED. Did anyone of you see RUSH HOUR 2 When that HongKonger was droning out Michael Jackson's beat and Christ Tucker took over to do it right? Well basically this was WORSE.

Shhhhhhh. Don't tell anyone... These dumb Americans will eat up anything as long as it's played on MTV and they think the next guy likes it too. Yes, hit that applause button again!! Besides the kids need another genre of music to irritate their mums and dads with. They will like it and they will shove it down each other's thoats, just because it's sooooo coooooool.

I think he is the Weird Al of the new generation.

Or just a plain ol' nobody.

Or a perhaps Will could be hired to sing, assisted with loudspeakers, for inmates. A fitting punishment for those who've wronged society.

Bigtruckseries,

Well he's somebody now. I've read his interviews. He's definitely someone that is genuine, sincere, and aware of what is going on around him. I think he keeps a blog too. I thought it was interesting he had a play by play of a Pokemon tournament he attended once. He's like the really live version of characters Kevin Costner and Tom Hank play in their movies. Someone really down to earth and a weird circumstances just happened.

kimchi devil,

I thought USA supported human rights.

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I thought USA supported human rights.

Free speech trumps human rights.

I think there is another appeal of William Hung.

He's like the 80's Revenge of the Nerds.
And the 90's decade of Tech Nerds.
So he's like the Y2K 1st Decade of Entertainment Nerds.

The more I think about, the more it seems like this could be more than a novelty act.
You know like in asia where they have pop stars that come out at 16 that can't sing. And by their twenties they are idol status.

This could actually be a phenon. I'm going to give him my vote a Grammy as Best New Artist.

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I'm going to give him my vote a Grammy as Best New Artist.

I'd vote for him too, but only after he has rabies and goes around biting white folks on TV. Now that would be entertaining as hell.

kimchi devil,

You mean foreplay right...like in the term "necking"

But you do have a point his name does naturally lend itself to the porn industry.

If Millie Vanilli can win a Grammy for faking it. William Hung definitely deserves one, cause he's the real deal.

William Hung is cool and funny as heck It's cool and refreshing to see an AA on TV that is not some sort of shopkeeper.

i think he has sack....

That stated, I think the fact he is even remotely seen as a positive Asian American male reflects the dire circumstances of the Asian male image in this country. Sure people go nuts for him in a campy way but it sort of reminds me of how you and your friends would get a kick out of watching that slightly retarded kid you knew in high school break dance. It was spasmatically wonderful to watch and it was coupled with an ironic humor only found in Greek comedic tragedies.

I have no idea what kind of audition setup American Idol has behind the scenes but if they let William get up with that Atrocious, B.S. Act he did, they obviously meant to use him as a joke. The Asian American Male image is degraded by stunts like this.

HAd I been there for this guys addition,, I woulda sent his ass home.

Frankly, I think Chinese american Males should sing "DUI MIAN DE NU HAI KAN GUO LAI" and Females should sing
"Love Before Time" in Mandarin on American Idol.

The reason why?

I've noticed Indian females who sing ethnic songs in their language make it further than many other foriegners who attempt to sing English songs. Since these are two GREAT Chinese songs, that some people remember, I think they will get farther simply because not many English speakers understand the words, yet, they can go along with the tune.

I don't we should be so hard on William and I personally do not see him as a reflection nor generalisation of asians. He's just another one of hundreds of hilarious clowns in the media. I mean, for every idiodic asian you see on TV, you can find an idiotic white person. If examine the entire gamut of american film, only a small percentage of caucasians are portrayed as heroes in shining armor. Look at Ben Stiller, Homer Simpson, George Costanza, hardly flattering portrayals.

...But thats not how the public sees it.
When Whites get on TV and do extremely stupid things like "JACKASS", "BUMFIGHTS" and such, they are seen as just a couple of stupid jerks.
However, when a non-white fails its tottally different.
Even Blacks have had to work extremely hard to shed those stereotypes that were setup by those old 'SAMBO' and 'Buckwheat' skits. Now, many of them refuse to take roles like that. I think the last one was URKEL who at least was a genius and had wider appeal than the rest of the cast of Family Matters.

In my opinion, Whites and the non-Asian groups of America don't care what country Asians are from. They still refer to us as "chinamen" until we give them some definate location of Asian where we are from...then the word changes to [epithet] or [Japanese] accordingly.
William Hung was just a chinese kid who couldn't sing to save his life and allowing him to perform was a premeditated joke to poke fun at all Yellow skinned, chink-eyed people.
That is what annoys me so much.

Do you think that a White, Spanish or Black person with no talent would have been allowed to jump up there?

When Whites screw up it is because personal character.
When non-Whites screw up its stereotypical and expected.

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When Whites screw up it is because personal character. When non-Whites screw up its stereotypical and expected.

BigTruck,

I could not think of a more pleasant way to spend an evening than to watch some homemade "pro" wrestling performed by stupid suburban white kids breaking their necks and otherwise crippling themselves for life. Now add a soundtrack by Willie Hung singing such favorites as "She Bangs" in addition to Willie performing LIVE to these crippled white kids in the emergency rooms and you'll have what I would call some quality entertainment. He could even perform for crippled inner-city youfs in the hospital too.

Will Hung just doesn't realize his full potential.

I had to listen to him sing She Bangs in my car. I'm speechless. Its like karoke gone wild.

Blacks had Urkle. White had the Dow Syndrome kid with the TV show. We got Willie Hung.

This is truly equality at its worst.

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Blacks had Urkle.

Urkle is NOTHING compared to whatever Howard Stern has on his show. I can't remember what they call him. It's HORRIBLE.

Anyways, Will Hung must join the dark side, his talents must be used only for evil, not for good. For he has the gift of being able to torment suffering souls and be entertaining in the process doing so. Yes!! the Butcher of Baghdad would most definitely approve.

I heard

that in the "idol" auditions, before anyone goes forth to the 3 panel judges they are tested by screeners and filters those who are:

>Most liekly to make ithe top 60
>Pure entertainment quality: i.e retards

warratah01,

William Hung is now on the top 10 most requested. So I guess the screeners knew they had a winner when they let them through.

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William Hung is now on the top 10 most requested. So I guess the screeners knew they had a winner when they let them through.

What the hell is Bill Hung doing in the top 10 most requested? (Web searches I presume). I must've been asleep during the whole thing. Is his cult following comprised of largely of Asians? Or non-Asians?

He needs to start his own church and milk the phenomenon for all it's worth, just as Uncle Moon did.

kimchi devil,

When I check out the pictures of his concert looks like mostly white people are into him. I mean asian already see Bill Hung all the time when we go to Keraoke Room and KTV joint all the time. We all got friends that can't sing. This of course is a new thing for White people.

support a brother; buy his album1

http://www.williamhung.net

Nah, I'll pass on that album, but, come on, you've got to know that the TV producers of American Idol only showed the very best, and the very worst auditions, of which William Hung was one. I'm sure the majority of their auditions were people who might sound halfway decent in the shower or on a karaoke stage, but certainly not star-quality voices. Then you had the people with the "right stuff" on one extreme, and laugh riots like William Hung on the other extreme. I didn't think he was any funnier than the other self-deluded no-talent clowns who thought they were the next American Idol, so I don't really understand his special cachet.

Well, since I kinda missed out on this fiasco, I went ahead and D/Led some mixes off his website. At first, it was wierd, but he actually sounds pretty darn good. I mean from the pictures he looks like a retard, but he sounds good. It was very akward to say the least. Me thinks, William Hung gives Americans that tingling sensation and the unique experience of retard worship. This is much better than I thought...

Ahhh, such contrast, a pleasant sound and yet a comical effect. In response to the original question "William Hung: Idol Or Joke?" He is both! This is what makes him soooo damn good. A mind warp, like watching Fight Club, or Matrix, or Brazil. Where the mind is bombarded and left confused as to what to make of it. A lobotomy of sorts. I like it.

basically Hung is a satire of the pop world, like the hand puppet J-Lo from South Park

Cartman:[to hand puppet] "Oh wow Miss Lopez, your songs are so basic that it doesn't really require any thinking or creativity at all

J-Lo: "Sie Sie!"

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basically Hung is a satire of the pop world, like the hand puppet J-Lo from South Park

Naaah, he's more than that... He has a certain "Tom Jones" quality about him, with a little work and training he would have a good career on the Vegas circuit. Of course, certain tunes do not work with him, he should stay away from the funkier stuff (Superfreak, Hip-Hop, etc.) and corny/comic stuff(Wierd Al). He should stick with decent songs that requires singing: happy songs. His voice isn't that bad and he would probably sound good singing some Beach Boys tunes and the like.

another possibility: they dubbed william hung! he's a kickass singer but they had to put the asian man down and give him bad dubbing. case in consideration: milk and cereal, cereal and milk

http://cal.dioxide.net/media/mandc/
http://www.wongfuproductions.com/ourvideos.htm

then does this mean Yellow Americans are allowed to compete in entertainemnt sectors elswhere? noooooo. Slap stick/daft comedians: yes and perhaps an ethnic musclehead villain or two.

he's definitely one sharp dude. i think he's fully aware of his media image and is capitalizing on it. his soundtrack is a mix of his "repertoire" he's been singing and some "inspirational" quotes. in particular he has one titled passion that goes:

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i may not be the best singer in the world but i sing from my heart and i sing with passion.  i enjoy what i do; not for money, not for fame.  i just enjoy singing.

gee, i wonder did anybody tell him about his $25,000 paycheck? in addition, he's actively seeking publicity from all media sources and he definitely knows this. the first "inspirational" quote has him mentioning that he realizes his image is all over the place. he's no doubt laughing all the way to the bank.

"whenever they put an Asian person in a movie or tv show, they seem to have to justify him being there. He either has to be some super smart computer genius or he has to be a mathematician"
----------Margaret Cho standup



Frankly, I think William Hung is getting 15 minutes of fame added to the 15 minutes he spent damaging the eardrums of the viewers of the American Idol episode he appeared on.
Whats sad is that he was TRYING HIS BEST.
If this was a stunt or an act (ala Jim Carrey) he would probably be recieved better but, he seriously CANNOT SING. I would never spend money on his product so I used Kazaa to download his tracks.
I gave him a chance and then I immediately erased the crap.

The only way I see him coming out of this a winner is if he gets a deal on MAd tv.

You people who are praising him need you inner ear canals checked out because this dude is horrid.
They can give him plenty of record deals and all the spots they want but it doesn't change the fact that singing ISN'T his gift. Hopefully he does better with Math and Computer studies.

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You people who are praising him need you inner ear canals checked out because this dude is horrid.

Yes and no... it depends on which mix you're listening to. After downloading some more tunes, I've noticed more gawd-awful singing, resulting in immediate erasure. Some or many of the songs are horrid (usually because of tempo/timing), but there are some songs of his that sound remarkably good. Good voice and a little reverb helps out.

As far as his live acts are concerned, I have no idea what those are like, but I purdy much assume they're goofy.

i just wanted to share the following piece that i wrote in response to some critics over an asian-american media listserv. while i realize william hung is exploiting his image, he's also trying to be genuine to the extent he thinks he can obtain success in the media and it's understandable and damn outright an american thing to do.

*******************************************
asian-american critics jealous over william hung?

enough is enough, the kid is enjoying what he's doing and the media loves him. whether he's being exploited or he's playing the game, william hung fully knows what he is doing with his 15 minutes and is capitalizing on it to the maximum extent that he can. what i find disheartening is whether his asian-american critics are trully criticizing the caricature or are they simply jealous over his success? this isn't the first time the asian community is its own worst enemy in terms of biting tooth and nail against one of our own making it. in fact, intra-community conflict of asian-americans looking down at one another is sometimes even worse than what the mainstream media does. i find it disturbing that the highly offensive Details article "gay or asian" hasn't caused an outrage among the "mature crowd" here as it has the younger asian-americans on some other web forums. that a mainstream publication can pull a racist depiction without the consent of the model (stock photos) and hasn't caused an uproar from more people here is disheartening more than william hung's willing capitalizing on his image for his own financial gains.

it's understandable from his perspective since no asian-american producer/director will give him the opportunity that he has found with his over-the-top asian urkel caricature. face it, with all the ego and pecking order established within the asian-american media community, william hung is doing what's necessary for his own interests because he knows nobody will give him a chance from within "his" community. i find it refreshing that to a certain extent he's out there representing the underdogs and the average joes like me instead of the sensationalized "hotties" the asian-american inferiority complex deems necessary for "positive" media portrayals. i don't buy into the mainstream glamour images, and i respect william hung who represents the american splendor in the common and the downtrodden. and i refuse to believe that among us mediaheads we're willing to buy into what mainstream media tries to depict us as; minstrel show or not, why should we internalize mainstream media's depictions instead of fighting back with our own media images? i challenge the critics to defend themselves that there isn't some tinge of jealousy over william hung's success.

and if this marginalizes me against those asian-american directors or producers then so be it because i've not found much success or good experiences and my written opinion probably won't likely win me any friends either. maybe instead of tearing ourselves down we ought to build each other up?

Doesn't matter if he can sing or dance.
William Hung is entertaining. Even if it is for all the wrong reasons.

I've seen individuals all the time in HK and Japan and Taiwan that can barely sing a note when the come out as entertainers. It all image. Like La Boys. Like Coco Lee. Like Hard Soft. Like Faye Wong.

So what if he's personifies a goof ball. I don't see why people should be all negative about it. The kid is scratching out a living. And public loves him.

I also think some asian are pretty insecure if they feel William Hung public image is going to reflect poorly on them. Give me a break.

It doesn?t matter whether William Hung is a good performer or not. The same critics will find something ? anything ? to discredit William Hung, even if William were a star performer. The problem is not with William Hung; the problem is with the critics. Sad to say, the Asian American critics.

But then, the fact that there are such critics proves that William is a success. Some of us congratulate him on his success. Others simply envy his success. Either way, it?s success.

William cannot fail to allow the anti-asian forces to regroup and fortify their positions... Hung must break through, even if he has to break through the 'glass' ceiling of the media industry with his head.

Besides why do the critics try so hard? Why are there so many detractors hell bent on making him look or sound bad? Anyways, William Hung is pretty much a media version of a Ouija Board, whether it changes or determines the fate of Asian-American entertainers... who knows.

HEY! if I was a well off African-American and knew that "Urkle" was my sole representative in the mass media I'd be contacting MJ's cosmetic surgeon.

from an article about the man, the myth, the legend:

QUOTE

Since he has become famous, Hung has not changed anything about his appearance: T-shirt tucked into khaki pants, leather belt, tennis shoes. ``I want to impress with my singing and professional ability, so I'm not thinking too much about changing the way I look. I want to come out neat and tidy.'' One of the girls at the table, Jenny Shen, says, ``I just admire him for still being who he is.''

the man's got mad game with the ladies. so take that!

"the man's got mad game with the ladies"

the ladies like you mean the ones you can pick up for $5/hour on the streets?

realizing that this ascertains my pre-conceptions of what the real world is like, I ain't having any children until eugenics come along as part of family planning

"okay doctor, I want my son to have a decent cranial ridge and a high arch nose, o-okay that looks too preposterous, let's flip over some successful hapa pics, ooh MC Mike Shinoda and Keanu Reeves looks like some good examples, ..oh no, not Jackie Chan's love child with..."

me too, this world is too real and us Asians are too UN-REAL.

Asian Americans must do either of two to remove this Hung bastard and earnmedia respect:

>increase Asian descent population to 10% (two ways to do that, I recommend the virtuous one)

>"demonstration of fear" against media figures in a justifiable manner and set up a political wing for the "demonstrators"

I mean is he any different than Yan Can Cook, If he's milking the image for all he is worth.

Hello, I've been doing okay with the ladies even when Captian Sulu on re-runs as my only mass media representation.

Just relax. If you're blaming Hung for your inability to hook up with the ladies. Something is already wrong to begin with.

warratah01



God forbid Genetic Manipulation gains too much steam... Asians of the future will have Blonde hair, Blue eyes, be 6 foot 5' tall and have round wide eyes.

Frankly, I appreciate those terrorists who have the gaul to assasinate doctors who tamper with life physics.

The last thing this world needs is more white wannabees. I ran into enough of em.

Allways be proud of who you are. Be proud to be Asian.

QUOTE

the ladies like you mean the ones you can pick up for $5/hour on the streets?

at least the man's got the money from his $25,000 paycheck to pickup any ladies on the street. and he doesn't need to, on the UCB campus women are literally throwing themselves at him. am i sensing some insecurity or jealousy from you?

QUOTE

realizing that this ascertains my pre-conceptions of what the real world is like, I ain't having any children until eugenics come along as part of family planning

zieg-heil!

BigTruck,

QUOTE

>"demonstration of fear" against media figures in a justifiable manner and set up a political wing for the "demonstrators"

Hmmm, kinda reminds me of those ads that got played after 9-11 with all those people going around saying, "I am an American." When the asian man said it, he said it with the usual accent. What a load of siht... Even when they 'appear' to be doing something for a greater good they still try to slip crap like that into the message. Sneaky lil' rats.

QUOTE

Frankly, I appreciate those terrorists who have the gaul to assasinate doctors who tamper with life physics.

If you mean anti-abortionists, it has nothing to do with life physics or morality... It's a numbers game and whites are uber-pissed at becoming a minority more and more each year. Asians should be pissed too, for not multiplying fast enough. bwahahaha.

AC,

QUOTE

Hello, I've been doing okay with the ladies even when Captian Sulu on re-runs as my only mass media representation.

I recall reading about William Shatner having some "problems" with Sulu (or the guy playing Sulu) being the captain of the ship... That Shatner is a really, really good actor who really believes the Enterprise is a real ship. Very protective of his imaginary status on this imaginary space ship. "Only I can be captain of this ship, but he's asian. He cannot be captain of my ship.". LOL.

kimchi devil,

I heard Shattner had many issues on the show. Leonard the Vulcan didn't like them either. God forbid a Jewish or Black captain the future world of Star Trek.

QUOTE

Asians should be pissed too, for not multiplying fast enough. bwahahaha

Damn hispanics and black. That's it let's begin the 1 child policy for them here in the USA.

I'm just going to wait for William Hung to start dating Brittney Spears or Christina Arguella. Or at least be in their video. I think he should do their cover songs or sing a duet with them.

QUOTE

I'm just going to wait for William Hung to start dating Brittney Spears or Christina Arguella. Or at least be in their video. I think he should do their cover songs or sing a duet with them.

Those girls need to be doing it Mary Kay LeTourneau Stylez.... You know, "Once you pop you can't stop." LOL. If those damn insecure white boys didn't stick Mary Kay in prison she'd be making lil' asian babies like mad. LOL.

Perhaps one day, when William Hung has left the building also, there will be a legion of his loyal followers, William Hung impersonators, to carry on his spirit.