For the first time in my life, I was canceled during a corporate keynote speech for talking about right-wing cancel culture.
Earlier in the week, a tech company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team invited me to address their employees to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which ended in May. I lasted all of five and a half minutes before the Zoom meeting abruptly ended without a warning or any follow-up messages, texts, or calls from company personnel.
I assumed it was a technical glitch. I spent 15 minutes trying to log back on but to no avail. After an hour and two emails, a member from the DEI committee finally replied and told me they ended the Zoom due to “internal issues.” That was the first and last communication I received. They initially didn’t even inform their employees, several of whom messaged me on Twitter over the next two days asking if I was censored for my comments.
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Surely, I must have said something dangerous and outrageous.
I must have used those six minutes to spread baseless conspiracies about election fraud, QAnon, and George Soros. Or, I probably mocked sexual assault survivors, referred to violent insurrectionists as “great people,” or defended dining with white nationalist leaders. No corporation, or self-respecting company, would ever platform individuals who espouse such hateful, divisive rhetoric… right?
If I engaged in such behavior, most people would support and applaud this company for cutting off my mic. Or, maybe they canceled my speech due to my politics. I most likely named and shamed MAGA and thus alienated conservative employees. (Businesses have historically been neutral and complicit in the face of rising fascism, because, after all, “both sides” buy sneakers, so it’s not worth the potential financial risk to take a side in the face of a radicalized and weaponized movement that is attacking our freedoms and democracy.)
Nope. I did none of the above. I didn’t even mention the words conservative, Republican, Trump, DeSantis, GOP, or MAGA. I simply made the mistake of telling my truth.
I began my speech by sharing some lovely, helpful recommendations I’ve received since the 9-11 terror attacks. They include emails that demand I “go back” to where I came from, to which I respond, “The Bay Area? I’d love to if you could subsidize my rent.” I followed it up with another gem: folks telling me to “go f****a goat.” It’s always goats and camels for some reason. Why only those two animals? There’s an entire animal kingdom, people! Be creative! I respond by thanking them for their suggestion but lament that I am now a 42-year-old man married to one woman and no longer have the physical dexterity to engage in bold sexual experimentation. However, I invite them to “go f***” a goat or a camel” and report back.
These are two examples I use to highlight the exciting adventures of being a Muslim American son of Pakistani immigrants in this “heightened moment” that Black folks have been experiencing for over 400 years. “We’re living in a country where some parents are more comfortable with their kids getting shot at school than reading a book written by a Black woman,” I continued. In this “moment,” we can’t say “gay” in “some places that rhyme with Mlorida” because saying “gay” makes some people uncomfortable.
And despite some people’s “discomfort,” I reminded the audience that transgender kids are still being bullied, harassed, and killed; Black people are still being shot and killed by the police; Asian Americans are still being blamed for COVID, because bigots, in addition to being cruel, are also dumb and think a virus that has killed over 1 million Americans has an ethnicity; and women have still lost a Constitutionally protected right to have autonomy over their bodies.
After saying all this, I asked: “How do you get to reconciliation without truth? You can’t. You don’t. You won’t.”
The company had a different response. They ended the Zoom meeting.
In hindsight, the timing was utterly exquisite and couldn’t have been scripted better. They canceled me, their Asian American speaker, right as I was talking about our stories being banned and our communities being marginalized to placate the “economic anxiety” of a few.
According to employees who messaged me, the company initially told them the meeting ended due to “technical difficulties.” I posted a Twitter thread of my unfortunate experience, which then forced them to admit they had maybe been too hasty in pulling the plug for fear of offending some people. They did, however, find time to send a stern message to my speaking agency asking me to delete my tweets. I refused.
I’m still debating whether I should be upset or proudly wear it as a badge of honor considering diversity initiatives, stories written by people of color, and corporations are being targeted and attacked by right-wing extremists across America because they reject white, Christian theocracy in favor of a multiracial democracy.
I have been anointed to a growing rogue’s gallery of alleged “woke” radicals funded by Jewish American billionaire George Soros to replace “real” Americans. These are often, but not exclusively, conservative GOP voters who are suffering from immense “economic anxiety” due to women and people of color having the audacity to demand equity, respect, and dignity. These people fear that homosexuality works through osmosis and magic: if their son simply hears the word “gay” or reads a book that features gay people then he will immediately start kissing boys, change his pronouns, wear a dress, and take drag lessons from George Santos.
I shared my story to invite the company, which I haven’t named, to do better if it wants to retain and recruit employees of color who will no longer tolerate performative DEI bullshit and minority tokenism. Our lives and stories aren’t a game of taboo where we won’t say scary words like “white supremacy,” “privilege,” and “systemic racism,” just because it causes some short-term discomfort and agitation for a few people.
Imagine the discomfort we feel when Trump tells us to “go back” and promises bans against our people. My story is also a microcosm of what will happen in America if corporations continue to pre-emptively bend the knee to placate a radicalized minority that will gladly embrace fascism to feel great again. Their bellies, and their rage, will only continue to grow.
If you don’t believe me, just look at what’s happening with Chick-fil-A. Just in time for Pride month, the successful fast food chain, which is closed on Sundays for religious reasons, has allegedly joined the “woke” parade. Even though Chick-fil-A has long been a champion of right-wing, homophobic policies, they now face boycotts because conservative activists have spread misinformation about the company’s DEI officer.
They’re also outraged that their corporate policy focuses on “ensuring equal access” and “creating a culture of belonging,” which is, literally, the lowest bar on Earth for a corporate franchise with nearly 3,000 restaurants in 47 states that both employs and serves the entire racial, religious, sexual and political spectrum of America. However, “equal access” and a “culture of belonging” is too extreme for MAGA, which is deploying zealous activists flush with right-wing money and GOP political support to defund libraries and threaten educators.
MAGA and right-wing anti-LGBTQ activists, which belong to the same Venn Diagram, are trying to pressure and threaten companies like Chick-fil-A to abandon their meager and performative attempts at diversity. They’re proudly holding up the scalps of Target and Anheuser-Bush InBev, two companies they’ve targeted with manufactured outrage and boycotts for simply acknowledging and catering to LGBTQ+ people, who actually exist and can be named out loud unlike Voldemort.
You don’t win over fascists with compliments and a curtsey. If you choose to bend the knee, then you might as well hand over your neck. The only way forward is for the majority, including companies, to realize we have the numbers and thus we have the power to fight back and win.
After being attacked and punished by DeSantis, Disney, the biggest employer in Florida, has responded by pulling its proposed $1 billion office complex in Florida that would have created more than 2,000 high-paying jobs. Teachers are uniting with parents in red districts and successfully defeating right-wing activists who are trying to take over school boards, defund libraries, and spread hateful lies about CRT.
Judging by Trump’s vindictiveness and betrayals alone, it should be clear to anyone who’s been paying attention that MAGA will turn on anyone, even its most loyal acolytes. This is the same group whose members were perfectly willing to hunt down and kill Vice President Pence, the most white, conservative, Republican man on Earth, simply because he didn’t go along with the insurrection. Earlier this week, Trump slammed his former press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, who is the most white, conservative, Republican woman on Earth. If they’re willing to go after them and Chick-Fil-A, what hope do you have?
As far as my “uncomfortable” speaking engagement, I made sure the company still paid me. This counts as the most lucrative dollar-for-minute speaking engagement of my career. I, for one, shall keep speaking. I’ll continue telling my truth. I still have a lot to say. Six minutes isn’t enough. After all, I also have a big appetite. I’ll keep opening my mouth, and I’ll keep eating.
