UK: Band Singer arrested for singing "Kung Fu Fighting" - Asian man offended

[RamboLiberal]

Police arrested a singer on racism charges after a man reportedly of Chinese descent complained about his performance of the song "Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports.

Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun newspaper that he and his band were performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.

"We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets," he told the newspaper. "People of all races were loving it. Chinese people have never been offended by it before."

But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking by with his mother hurled an expletive and made an obscene hand gesture at the performers during the Sunday afternoon performance, then took a photo with his cell phone.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42779407/ns/world_news-europe/

Wow, wonder what the story is behind this one. If Ledger's account is the truth then this is one stupid arrest. As someone who was a Bruce Lee fan and then practiced martial arts I always got a kick out of this song.

[Phoenix63]

1. Arrested for what? The article doesn't say...

Is there a law against hokey 70's pop music?

[RamboLiberal]

2. subjected to racial abuse

sorry 4 paragraph limit makes getting all details in tough.

[guitar man]

9. no such law that I know of

but I've often struggled with myself over whether such a law should exist :spray: :rofl:

welcome to DU :hi:

[Phoenix63]

12. Thanks! Hehe the jails would be full..

Ray Stevens, Blue Suede, Carl Douglas, Paper Lace, Jigsaw, Pilot... it's a looong list :)

[guitar man]

26. yeah, and just imagine

If we included hokey 80s pop music too, we'd be in real trouble! :wow:

[dipsydoodle]

3. Police should've arrested

the "Asian" for wasting police time.

btw - There's a conversion in that article. We don't refer to Chinese as Asians here - Chinese prefer Oriental regarding Asian as being a derogatory expression. Asian here is Indian subcontinent.

[RamboLiberal]

4. And I've read in the past that Oriental was considered offensive

Where is here to you? Just curious.

[dipsydoodle]

6. United Kingdom

Seems to be offensive in the US but not sure by whom - may in fact not necessarily be viewed as such by those personally affected. As I said - its exact the opposite here where being true Oriental is matter of extreme pride.

:hi:

[hifiguy]

8. Two peoples separated by a common language

as Churchill put it. :hi:

[dipsydoodle]

11. You're not kidding !

:hi:

[DefenseLawyer]

5. Also Dude, "chinaman" is not the preferred nomenclature.

[Fuzz]

18. And chink is right out.

;)

My wife still remembers being chased around the playground as a child as kids yelled 'chink, chink' at her.

[NightHawk63]

22. Hahaha

:rofl:

[conspirator]

23. Walter, this isn't a guy who built the railroads here. He peed on my rug nt

[CreekDog]

16. Oriental here is considered offensive (SF Bay Area)

And this area of the US (and of California) has more Asian immigrants than anywhere else.

[smirkymonkey]

25. I found that out when I went to grad school in SF and we asked a

Japanese girl in the class if she thought it was offensive and she said it didn't bother her. I usually say Asian, but Oriental just means "Eastern" as opposed to Occidental which means "Western". I don't really see anything pejorative about it.

[CreekDog]

32. Right and "colored" means the same as "person of color"

must be something wrong with people who would take offense at the first term.

:sarcasm:

--also, about your statement, "I don't see it as pejorative"...you are basing that on the dictionary definition while what makes a term pejorative is its context.

and NAME ONE PERSON who gets referred to as "OCCIDENTAL". One just one.

[Zephie]

7. How funny, right as I saw this OP my pandora station put on Kung Fu Fighting

It was perfect.

[babydollhead]

17. that's not funny. That is cyber market targeting

our local grocery store reminds me to menstruate.

[Turbineguy]

10. Flo and Eddie version

http://www.videosurf.com/video/flo-and-eddie-cheap-kung-fu-killer-eddie-are-you-kidding-pt-1-1240450861

Starts at 2:47

[babydollhead]

13. it is my favorite song.

[FLAprogressive]

14. waiting for the throngs of DUers who cheered about the Canadian incident to step up and do the same

here.

[blondeatlast]

15. If I had any idea what you were talking about I might have some idea

what you are talking about.

[FLAprogressive]

21. This.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=960226&mesg_id=960226

[fatbuckel]

19. Let`s fluff up another story...According to BBC...

"was arrested on suspicion of causing harassment, alarm or distress" Not racism charges.

Isle of Wight musician's 'racist' arrest over song
A musician was arrested after a performance of the 1970s song Kung Fu Fighting at an Isle of Wight bar sparked an alleged racism row with a passer-by.

Simon Ledger, 34, of Shanklin, said he was playing the Carl Douglas hit at the Driftwood bar, Sandown, on Sunday when the man of Chinese origin took offence.

Police said the passer-by claimed he was then "subjected to racial abuse".

Mr Ledger was bailed by police and is expected to be questioned later.

Police said the 32-year-old man was walking past the bar at about 1745 BST when the incident took place.

He contacted officers to make a complaint on the same evening.

Keyboardist Mr Ledger said he was later called and was arrested on suspicion of causing harassment, alarm or distress.

He was not taken to a police station but was released on street bail to be questioned later.

A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: "An investigation into this allegation is continuing to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened."

The bar manager and the other band members were unavailable for comment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-13205220

[damntexdem]

20. All one can say (sing?) is "One Night in Bangkok."

Checkmate.

[pacalo]

24. Oh, my goodness. That's one of my earworms that I sing when scrubbing the toilets.

:silly:

[edbermac]

27. What's next? Busting Mick Jagger for singing Brown Sugar?

:shrug:

[thelordofhell]

28. Can we get Cee Lo Green arrested for butchering the original song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc8wQb0hGjo

[Teaser]

36. can we arrest Carl Douglas for the original...

too?

[Warren DeMontague]

29. Those cats were fast as lightning. nt

[WatsonT]

30. Good thing they weren't playing "secret asian man"

Catchy song, but confusing lyrics.

[Modern_Matthew]

31. I hate how thin-skinned the human race is becoming...

I always end up resenting those whining about how offended they are about things. They do nothing to deserve sympathy when it comes to the point of throwing people in prison and fining them for saying and doing "offensive" things. We need more South Park creators and shock jocks in the world. An army of them.

[TalkingDog]

33. You will never have equality and freedom in equal measure.

Complete freedom means some people get treated differently.
Complete equality means that no one has freedom.

As the ground becomes more level, inconsistencies become more noticeable.

Human nature at it's finest.

[mr blur]

34. Consider the source (eom)

[alp227]

35. how about arresting Justin Bieber for being a terrible...naw j/k

Dump the charge, OK? There's no right not to be offended in a free speech society. Something offends you? Leave. (I am however against racial harassment directed at specific person/people.)