Jay Leno apologises for anti-Asian jokes he's told throughout his career

Asian American support organisations have been calling for networks to sever ties with the comic for years

Comedian and former late-night host Jay Leno has apologised for telling anti-Asian jokes over the decades. Reuters 

Comedian Jay Leno has issued an apology for making anti-Asian jokes throughout his career.

For more than two decades, the organisations Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Media Action Network for Asian Americans (Manaa) have called for NBC to sever ties with the former host of The Tonight Show.

Manaa said that between 2002 and 2012, Leno had made at least nine documented jokes about Korean or Chinese people eating dogs or cats, helping perpetuate racist stereotypes. The group has been seeking an apology ever since.

“At the time I did those jokes, I genuinely thought them to be harmless,” Leno said in a joint press release with Manaa leader Guy Aoki. “I was making fun of our enemy North Korea and, like most jokes, there was a ring of truth to them.”

He added: “At the time, there was a prevailing attitude that some group is always complaining about something, so don’t worry about it. Whenever we received a complaint, there would be two sides to the discussion: either ‘we need to deal with this’ or ... ‘they can’t take a joke’. Too many times I sided with the latter even when in my heart I knew it was wrong.”

In light of that, Leno said, “I am issuing this apology. I do not consider this particular case to be another example of cancel culture but a legitimate wrong that was done on my part.

"Manaa has been very gracious in accepting my apology. I hope that the Asian American community will be able to accept it as well, and I hope I can live up to their expectations in the future.”

Aoki has publicly called for networks to take action against Leno's discriminatory comments for years. In 2012, he wrote a letter to advertisers of The Tonight Show stating that Leno's repeated jokes were part of a problem that meant Asian Americans were regularly "subjected to ridicule, disdain and abuse", which he said "resulted in a rise in racial profiling and hate crimes against Asians, Asian Americans and immigrants".

The apology from Leno comes in the wake of an Atlanta shooting that led to eight deaths, including six Asian women. It also comes at a time when Asian Americans are facing an increase in violence directed towards them that's led to the creation of the hashtag #StopAsianHate, with celebrities also speaking out against the prejudice.