TMZ: Linguistic discrimination or humor?

I want to reflect on this relatively recent issue (at least in the Korean news) about TMZ and how critics are considering their comments toward EXID (a Korean pop star) as 'racist.' In this post, I don't intend to discuss or explain the underlying racism (though I acknowledge it is difficult to exclude this topic), but I want to explore the pragmatic aspects of the conversation happened in the newsroom, specifically the topic of "humor." Some questions that came to mind after watching this video were:

1. How was (what TMZ think as) "humor" used? 
2. What was the underlying meaning of the "humor"? 
3. Why was this "humorous'" to the newsroom staff but not to the rest of the world? (especially to Koreans?)
4. What were the intentions for using this "humor"? 
5. What's considered appropriate and inappropriate when using humor? Could we claim "appropriateness" when it comes to use of humor?

There are three key comments in this footage critics consider as "offensive":

1. K-pop star, Junghwa, greeted and responded to a question TMZ crew asked ("How are you feeling?")--"I'm so happy!" The staff reported this to the newsroom by mocking Junghwa's English accent. Some say the reporter was mocking the high pitch voice, but it was actually the accent. When the newsroom staff laughed back at her mockery, she "defended" by saying, "What?! If it were a British girl I would do a British accent." Now, my question is, was she trying to defend her actions? Was she trying to acknowledge what she said was wrong? What did she mean when she brought up the British accent? Would it be the same (would it create the same reaction) if she truly mocked someone with a British accent? Why did her follow up comment about the British accent create more laughter in the newsroom? 

2. One East Asian TMZ staff member tried to "mitigate" the situation and "defend" the Korean K-pop star, but it was not really successful. She added to the mockery, seemingly targeting the East Asian group in general, by commenting, "At least she didn't say, 'Thank you, thank you'" (bowing her head). Her comment elicited further laughter in the newsroom. What was her intentions for saying this? Was she sincerely trying to mitigate the situation? ("At least she didn't say...") What was the point of sharing (or mocking) the "Thank you-thank you" with the bowing action? Was she stereotyping that East Asians typically say the "thank you-thank you"? By adding the phrase, "At least she didn't say," is she implying that "thank you-thank you" is something negative? Also, just because she's from an East Asian ethnicity, does that give her privilege to say things as such? People in the newsroom were commenting that it's okay for her to do this since she's Asian. Is race or ethnicity a justifiable reason to make this supposed to be "humorous" comment? Finally, by saying this comment, was she trying to include herself as an East Asian or was she trying to exclude herself from the group? 

3. In response to the East Asian TMZ staff member's comment, a female (non-Asian) TMZ staff asked the East Asian TMZ staff, "Where are you from?" She replied by saying (rolling her eyes), "Um, AMERICA?!" So what was the purpose of this question? Was it to sincerely elicit information about her background? Was it to mock her back? The East Asian TMZ staff member's response was even more interesting. We can see here that she identified herself as an American--from America. Interestingly, her response ("America") created a lot of controversy on the net. People are commenting how she identified as American in this context (not "Asian American" for instance) to show membership in the newsroom crowd, yet she was being "disloyal" to her Asian roots. 

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Language is powerful and can be interpreted (and feel offended by many) in different ways (as shown in this example). We don't know all the intentions of the speaker, and as a speaker, we don't always think about how our words will be interpreted by our hearers. 

Complimenting Your Wife's Dish

Today, I thought about why wives/women want to hear some 'feedback' (a.k.a. compliment) or why we directly ask for compliments from husbands/love ones about the dish that they prepared.

Are we deprived of hearing compliments? Do we want to feel appreciated? Do we really want to know how the food taste like? Also, do we want them to tell the truth (about how the food taste like)? Or do we just want to hear some ritual-type of compliment? (Honey, this is great!)

Another thing to think about is, how often do we want them to compliment us on the food we cook? For every meal? Obviously, we do want to hear some sincere compliment, but what is our notion of sincerity? Do they need to exaggerate a bit? Do they need to use a higher tone or pitch? How about their facial expression? What adjectives are appropriate? Great? Awesome? Delicious? How much elaboration do we expect? (Honey, I love the spaghetti! The sauce is soo xxx.)

What do we truly want from husband's compliment? Do we want to form some kind of bonding? Or do we want to feel good? Do we want to improve our cooking? Or do we want to keep tab of what they like and what they don't like?

Also, why do we want to hear the compliment before we ask for it? Why do we get (a bit) upset if they don't give or delay their compliment?

Finally, is this something universal for all cultures? If so, why?? If not, how is it different in other cultures?