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LISA LING & RICK YUNE
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:06:55 PM.)

he's the most watched Asian woman on American TV. He's the year's hottest Asian American movie hunk. She's 26. He's 29. She's 5-5. He's 6-1. She's Chinese. He's Corean. Both are unquestionably American. She's daringly bubbly. He's recklessly intense. What makes them special to many AA minds is that they defied the odds and the unwritten laws of the American media to become the lone bona fide Asian American star couple.
     Rick Yune was barely one wen his family left his native Seoul, Corea for Silver Springs, Maryland. His education has been enviably ivy-covered -- private schools topped off by a Wharton MBA. Then came a stint as a Wall Street stock trader and modeling for Versace and Polo. He made a memorable film debut in December 1999 as a young Japanese American husband accused of murder in Snow Falling on Cedars. Yune's character walks and gets the girl. A breathless Newsweek profile didn't hurt his career. His intense and classic Asian features add sizzle to The Fast and the Furious (2001) and will undoubtedly do the same for The Fence (2001).
     Lisa Ling is a Sacramento native who got her start in TV at the age of 15 as a reporter for a syndicated teen magazine show called Scratch. Just as she was about to leave for Boston University, Channel One asked her to become one of its peripatetic on-air reporters. She attended USC while working full-time at Channel One's Hollywood studio. All her dates at USC were white, it's rumored. Soon after graduating she joined the panel of The View, ABC's popular daytime talkshow and began spending time with a Disney exec named Morgan Wandell. The fact that Disney is ABC's parent company led to resentment and innuendo. What really raised AA eyebrows was an Old Navy commercial showing Ling cavorting with a group of men and uttering the line "I like my man strong and good-looking". The beef? None of the five men are Asian.
     Little wonder that many were skeptical of rumors that surfaced in early 2000 that Ling and Yune had become a couple. Some speculate that it's a sign that Asian men are ascendant. Others suspect it's just Ling's effort at rehabilitating her image with her Asian American viewership. Still others are just glad to see an Asian-Asian star couple at long last.
     What do you think?

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WHAT YOU SAY

[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
Maybe Rick Yune sees dating Lisa Ling as a chance to gain popularity. Lisa is watched every morning Mon-Fri by many viewers.......
what i think    Friday, July 06, 2001 at 11:22:00 (PDT)
Chosun Chick,

You Korean girls are the MOST insecure bunch of women I've ever encountered in my life. How dare anyone Korean talk about beauty or lack thereof. Korean girls cannot speak on beauty given that like 80% or more have cosmetic surgery. If you're so goddamn beautiful, why are Korean girls always cutting and tucking their faces.

I don't particualrly find Lisa Ling beautiful, based on my own personal taste. However, she is far more beautiful in her own NATURAL way that ANY Korean girl who has gone under the knife.

When I see a beautiful Korean girl who's NEVER had cosmetic surgery, I'll be impressed. But the chances of seeing that are rather slim. I heard that in Korea, they do eye surgery on babies, so the babies so their look can mirror that of the fake mother.

So sad
Anti-surgery    Friday, July 06, 2001 at 09:16:33 (PDT)
You guys are so PATHETIC. You complain that ALL the Asian media women date Whites.

Now that an Asian female media star IS dating an Asian male media star. ALL you idiots can do is talk about how unattractive one is or is not.

This is really sad, you guys talk about Asian solidarity but when it comes down to it, you're so superficial, no wonder so many date Whites. At least if the White is unattractive he/she is still White.

Be happy that 2 Asians see the beauty in each other. So what Lisa Ling is not your idea of beautiful. Maybe Rick Yunes flat face is a turn off for some people too.

Bottom line get over this petty thinking and be happy theres at least 1 Asian woman and man in Hollywood who preferred the company of another Asian.
Disgusted    Friday, July 06, 2001 at 09:11:34 (PDT)
I think that its great that there are Asian couples in Hollywood, but what does that mean anyway? Does it prove to all those other people that Asian men are "man" enough to keep the Asian women? Why are we pouring over this anyway. I've always known that Asian men are hot and that Asian couples existed. And, it's just not right to put a judgement on anyone's relationship, especially on those that we don't personally know.
Oh, and stop dissing Lisa Ling's looks. She doesn't do her job to look good. And, if you ask this Korean girl, she Lisa Ling looks fine.
kyellow    Friday, July 06, 2001 at 00:13:25 (PDT)
Chinese and Koreans...please quit bashing eact other! It only makes you look childish and immature.

Leave the couple alone, they are humans like threst of us. We have no place in tearing their relationship apart. They are together because they want to be, if they didn't want to be together they wouldn't be.
asian-american    Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 22:34:30 (PDT)
As I see it, the relationship between Rick Yune and Lisa Ling is great to see. Both are attractive, articulate, educated, and represent Asians in a positive light. I think there should be more inter-Asian relationships because I think there is too much postuering between Asians as to whose better than the other which is quite detremental to the plight of Asians in America. I only hope their relationship is due to mutual affection of one another rather than the typical Hollywood romances. Even if it is, which I don't think it is, they still are representing Asians in one spectrum of the American pie.
Korean Dude
Korean Dude    Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 21:55:52 (PDT)
why does it always take one shit head to create havoc for everyone else. Just because one dumb ass decides to be idiotic, it doesn't mean that person represents the majority. Take everything w/ a grain of salt.
asian dude    Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 21:49:11 (PDT)
I don't why y'all are arguing about which ethnic group has the most slanted eye. All of the East Asian people have slanted and narrow eyes, especially the Korean people. Start to appreciate what God gave you guys and stop getting those eyelid surgery. This is general true for all the East Asian folks, except for the SouthEast Asian people (i.e. Vietnamese, Indonesian Malaysian)since their eyes are rounder and bigger. All eyes are beautiful regardles if they are slanted or not.
simon    Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 20:22:45 (PDT)
KM, how the hell would you know what people's ethnicities are on here? Sung Hi Lee is airbrushed and still looks ugly. That's sad. At least Lisa Ling is for reals. AND, Lisa Ling didn't need to go get plastic surgery to heighten up her jaw bone or get some stupid double-eyelid surgery that Korean girls rush off to get daily.
Moby    Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 19:39:24 (PDT)
Well, it's about time!!! Personally, I would like to see more Asian couples on t.v. We need Asian role models for our kids and communities.
All Asian    Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 09:30:10 (PDT)
To the disgustingly arrogant
HIGH PRIEST OF CHOSUN

Get some eyes. Lisa ling isn't all that pretty but she is a hell lot better than most Korean girls. If you go to a plastic surgery websight on asian eyelid surgery you can see that statistics prove 50% of Koreans have the one eyelid effect while only 25% of Chinese have the one eyelid effect. So unless you think eyes the height of a piece of paper is attractive, don't be going online and dissing Chinese girls over Korean.
Chinese American and damn proud of it! hot_azian_grl128@yahoo.com    Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 06:45:22 (PDT)
Why does a column about a nice couple like Lisa Ling and Rick Yune have to be filled with such idiotic and immature posts? If you want chinese vs. korean bashing take it somewhere else.
Lisa Ling is a positive Asian American personality and the best part of The View. And she is very attractive. All of you who have nothing better to do than insult your fellow asians are ignorant and pathetic. I hope she never reads this forum.
Banana Boy 24    Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 00:49:55 (PDT)
Queen Psyche needs to deal with her issues against Korean women. Come on, are you that insecure that you're going to base your judgement on all Korean women by what this High Priestess of Chosun wrote? If so then you and this High Priestess are two of a kind.
CDN    Wednesday, July 04, 2001 at 21:43:27 (PDT)
High Priestess of Chosun: Let me tell you that you are wrong. You are a putting down another minority group
(Chinese) why? You insinuated that all Chinese women are ugly. How would you feel if you were dating a man of another ethnic background and someone described you as being an ugly Korean? I bet you wouldn't like it at all! I don't know why you have this hatred for Lisa Ling or Chinese people?!?! You are saying that Rick Yune would never choose a Chinese woman over a Korean one, but he did! You say they do not make a match because of their cultures, but how do you know what their cultures are? They both grew up in the United States! They come from different backgrounds but that doesn't mean that a relationship wouldn't work between them. A relationship is a lot of work and compromise.
Why do you call Lisa Ling Chinese? Is that how she identifies herself or is that how you have chosen to place her? What if she said that she was American or Chinese-American, you know these two are very different from being Chinese!
Don't sit there and curse at me. I am a Korean-American woman and it makes me furious to see that there are people out there making as ignorant a comment as yours was! Are you Korean? Are you of Korean decent? Are you Korean-American? If you are, you make me feel ashamed to be Korean-American.

Lisa Ling and Rick Yune: Don't take stupid comments made by ignorant people to heart.
Cindy    Wednesday, July 04, 2001 at 00:27:49 (PDT)
Queen Psye,

All the chinese girls like you are ugly just like lisa ling. And why are you talking about sung hi lee, damn are u jealous or some shit. Name one person who thinks lisa looks better than sung hi lee. No one. Chinese ugly girls are all jealous.
KM    Tuesday, July 03, 2001 at 21:28:07 (PDT)
Man lisa ling is the ugliest thing living. look at her face and you would know. Why can't you guys admit to that. Damn there are a lot better asian girls out there that also has some tits. she is so flat. Thats one person i would never be turned on by. And besides she is hella annoying whenever she speaks on the view, man if I was the producer i would kick her ugly ass off.
AMM    Tuesday, July 03, 2001 at 21:23:23 (PDT)
Ummm, come on kids, GROW UP! Goldsea is usually a very classy place to post, but always, ALWAYS, some moron has to post some racial/ethnically insulting posts. Damn people, who gives a SHITE about which women are more beautiful than others? Let's stick to the original topic, can we do that? Or is that just a bit too mentally "challenging" for you little kiddies?
fed up    Monday, July 02, 2001 at 19:07:42 (PDT)
I wish them the best for they're a really cute couple. Lisa Ling is not a sellout and like other people said, a commercial is just a commercial and it does not mean anything.
Someone    Sunday, July 01, 2001 at 23:19:36 (PDT)
To High Priestess of Chosun,
I disagree with your comment and I don't think there're more beautiful Corean girls than Chinese girls. I think your comment is invalid for it can't be proved. BTW, it's not up to our decision whether they should be together or not, and if they're happy, let them be.

Proud Chinese Female    Sunday, July 01, 2001 at 23:15:45 (PDT)
man lisa ling is butt ugly. Whenever I see her on the view I become embarrased of what she says and how she looks. She's always talking about hoochie when she doesn't even have one. She's ugly flat and just plain ugly.
AM    Sunday, July 01, 2001 at 22:22:04 (PDT)
At least Lisa's not air brushed like Korean girls need to be on stage.
Eyez    Sunday, July 01, 2001 at 19:38:03 (PDT)
This message is for the High Priestess of Chosun: people like you are just hilarious. I laugh while I read your message. NO doubt you are Korean by the unbacked arrogant way you talk. Don't comment on how beautiful Koreans are when in reality they are as good looking as someone's ass. Psha! Korean girls need to grow some eyes before they even strut anything! Rick Yune is probably not with a Korean girl right now because they're all got egos the size of China with eyes smaller than Sung Hi's nostrils. On top of that, you Korean girls need to get your heads out of Rick Yune's ass! Grow some humility before you speak!
Queen Psyche    Sunday, July 01, 2001 at 19:31:51 (PDT)
Rick and Jordana Brewster...now that's a good looking couple. Lisa Ling looks like a anteater with her angular face. Rick can do sooooo much better.

Go check out Fast and Furious and see what I mean.
RJ    Sunday, July 01, 2001 at 12:29:20 (PDT)
what's wrong with this situation? I'm not being ironic or sarcastic-- she's pretty, he's handsome --what's the question? If you wonder why she may have dated only white guys (that's if that is true) it may be that they were the only ones with similar personalities at the time. Maybe she just never had the opportunity to meet someone like him before? (meaning outgoing, and willing to try with her)
chinese cdn girl    Sunday, July 01, 2001 at 06:31:38 (PDT)
be skeptical, always skeptical when anything relates to media couples. what's so sudden for ling to change her mind so fast and why not with a less known asian guy? put her in the same category as lucy liu and not ming-na (whom this AM respects and not lucy).

it's always publicity ploy for these media types of people.
another frustrated asian american guy    Saturday, June 30, 2001 at 23:50:28 (PDT)
When I saw TV video and photo clips of Ming-Na Wen and Eric Michael Zee way back when, I thought the media has done something so "revolutionary" as to feature a real-life celebrity AA couple in the spotlight. To some, it's about time. In addition, I felt a surge of hope that celebrity AA couples would become mainstream in the media.
But years after seeing that photo of Ming-Na and Eric holding hands, I hadn't seen any AA celebrity couples following in their wake. Disappointed? Yes.
Then one day, not too long ago, I surfed my TV-set, stopped at E! and saw something I thought would never be put on the air: two AA celebrities (Lisa and Rick) planting a kiss on the set of The View. Media history in the making? I definitely thought it was.
When seeing a happy Lisa and Rick, I felt an inner joy to see that American media has become somewhat "accepting" of putting AA couples in the spotlight.
What do I think? I'm one of those who is just glad to see an AA star couple at long last. I do also want to say how much I hope and pray that Lisa and Rick maintain that love forever into eternity.
B    Saturday, June 30, 2001 at 15:33:37 (PDT)
this is gay you guys have no life. There not even popular. This site sucks
am    Saturday, June 30, 2001 at 14:40:01 (PDT)
I think Lisa Ling is pretty cute. But.. Man!! Jordana Brewster!!!! She is a true godess of beauty!!! She is the girl who is dancing with Rick on the picture. I saw Fast and Furious and I thought Jordana looked a step above any other girls in the movie.
No one    Friday, June 29, 2001 at 23:07:11 (PDT)
Rick can do sooooo much better than her, Lisa is not even that attractive.
Dump her !    Friday, June 29, 2001 at 23:01:24 (PDT)
I don't believe these hollywood rumors nor do I believe that Rick Yune would ever choose a butt ugly chinese girl over a korean girl. I don't think it's a match considering the difference in culture, etc. I think this is just a publicity stunt to boost each other's careers and I do not think a korean man as handsome as he is would ever look at a chinese girl. This is a lie.
High Priestess of Chosun    Friday, June 29, 2001 at 22:34:15 (PDT)
While it's nice to see Asian AMERICAN power couples, and I wish these two the best, there is no doubt in the minds of many AA's such as myself that Lisa has been stung by the heavy criticism and accusations of "selloutism" directed at her. Come on, it has become vicious at times! Any ordinary person would be humbled by such harsh opinions, let alone an AA in the limelight! No doubt that Lisa is trying to "rehab" her image!
not fooled    Friday, June 29, 2001 at 21:35:32 (PDT)
Actually, Lisa Ling's first bf in high school, which was not that long ago for her, was a Japanese American guy. He was really cute. I saw their prom picture together before in an issue for Seventeen. I've never heard Lisa speak ill of Asian people. In fact, all I've seen are her efforts to promote Asian Americans, as could be seen when she interviewed Coco Lee on The View. Rick and her make a wonderful couple, and I hope that they take their relationship one more step further. Hint hint: marriage! Lastly, just because Lisa did an Old Navy commercial with 4 white guys, it shows nothing about her taste for men. That's called a commercial. The director tells her what to do. How come no one complained when the Asian guy was with the white girl?
Mango Bango    Friday, June 29, 2001 at 15:59:24 (PDT)

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