A petition has been started to cancel the segment after its repeated insensitivity to traditional Asian cuisine.
What We Know:
- “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts” is a segment on the Late Late Show where Corden and his guests have the choice to answer an uncomfortable question or eat a food item selected by their opponent. Some of the foods showcased include a thousand-year-old egg, beef tongue, bird saliva, and chicken feet. Corden and his guests tend to cringe or gag at the items and often spit them out into buckets when attempting to eat them.
- The issue is that most of these foods shown as “disgusting” or “inedible” are delicacies in Asian cultures. Kim Saira, a 24 year old influencer, noticed how these foods were being taken out of context, “When I first saw it, I was really confused because they had balut [fertilized duck eggs] on there. Growing up, balut was a super sentimental food to me because I ate it with my grandma and my cousins in the Philippines.
- Saira started a petition called #CancelSpillYourGuts in order to address the harmful stereotypes Corden is perpetuating with the segment. The petition has already amassed 40,000 signatures and calls for an on-air apology and that the show either changes the items or pulls the segment. It also asks Corden to donate to Asian-owed restaurants and businesses.
- With the rise of Anti-Asian hate over this past year, Saira more deeply considered Hollywood’s portrayal of Asian culture. Clips of Spill Your Guts that are uploaded onto Youtube often amass millions of views. Saira said, “When I see this segment and how they’re calling Asian cultures’ food gross, it brings me back to the time when I was younger and getting teased for my lunch. It’s the same feeling, and it’s being shown to a global audience.”
- This is not the first time the segment has been criticized. In 2018 Andrew Sun, a food columnist for South China Morning Post, called the segment “cultural chauvinism of the highest order.” Corden addressed recent remarks on June 16th in an interview with Howard Stern, saying, “The next time we do that bit, we absolutely won’t involve or use any of those foods.”
Saira and fellow activists decided to organize last Thursday in front of Corden’s studio in Los Angeles. Supporters were urged to join in eating Asian food and protesting for change to the show. “When a person who isn’t involved in the culture whatsoever is adamantly profiting from it and showing it in a negative way, it’s not right,” Saira stated.
