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KSDK's Michelle Li hit with BIZARRE racist complaint after woman calls in to slam 'dumplings'

Users being tweeting with #veryasian after 'Karen' calls Li to complain about the anchor's mention of dumpling soup on air

A local TV news anchor burst onto the national stage on January 2, 2022, thanks to one 'Karen' in Missouri. Michelle Li, a Korean-American anchor for KSDK in St. Louis was called "very Asian" by one caller after her segment on New Year's Day. The reason? Li mentioned she ate dumpling soup to ring in the new year, to which the caller replied "I don’t think it was appropriate" and "she can keep her Korean to herself."

Racist attacks, particularly on the Asian-American community have vastly increased in the aftermath of Covid-19, fuelled by Donald Trump's rhetoric. On December 26, one TikTok video went viral showing a woman barge into a Christmas party of a Latino family, asking them "to quiet down". In early December, another video showed a White woman accusing a Black man of stealing her phone, when she could not find it. 

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While the Latino family chose to force the Karen out, and the Black man held his ground, Li chose to react in a very different manner. She clapped back at the racist caller with a video of her sipping from a cup, while the call was playing in the background. It quickly won over the internet, and #VeryAsian began trending in a matter of minutes.

Racist Karen slams Li's segment

The whole incident started with Li's on-air segment on January 1, where she was speaking about Asian traditions to ring in the new year. "I ate a lot of dumpling soup, that's what a lot of Korean people do," she added. It appears that line really angered one viewer, so much so that they rang up Li to complain. "I don’t think it was appropriate that she said that and she was being very Asian. And I don’t know, she can keep her Korean to herself," the caller said. The anonymous person went on to say Li's dumpling reference was "annoying", and that a White anchor would have been fired for mentioning what foods they eat for New Year’s Day.

Li uploaded the call to Twitter, along with her reaction saying, "I’d love to say something back." She also uploaded the video to Instagram, with the caption, "We should all be given the chance to bring our full humanity to the table." Beyond that though, Li decided to leave it up to the internet to deal with the 'Karen', and it appears she wasn't disappointed. 

Many users began to react to Li's video using the hashtag #VeryAsian, quickly turning it viral. Li also changed her Twitter bio to read "VERY ASIAN", and began retweeting some of the tweets that used the hashtag. Needless to say, the net did not disappoint and hit back hard at the 'Karen'. 

'It's not always about y'all'

"Here's what white fragility sounds like. We have #UnapologeticallyBlack now get to know #VeryAsian! Listen up white people are the default. Everything is centered around whiteness. In this context she was speak to her experiences. White people it's not always about y'all. Damn." one user responded. Another anchor tweeted a photo of him cooking and said, "uh oh me being #VeryAsian caught on camera." One user joked, "if they're mad that we eat dumpling soup on New Year's, wait until they hear that we celebrate two New Year's."

"My husband is #VeryAsian and I’m #VeryBlack For New Years, his family eats pancit. For New Years, my grandmother insists we (POC) must eat black eyed peas & greens. So we made it all! Cultural differences are beautiful & should be celebrated! Hope you enjoyed your dumplings!" one user replied to Li. Another said, "How can I not be #veryasian when I was beat up by white kids for my asian appearance in elementary school-this caller is the grown up version of those kids now." One person tweeted, "And just like that I’ve decided to be Extra Korean this year. No, make that Violently Korean in 2022 to compensate."