In the months before Fresh Off the Boat premiered on ABC, the network and show faced a slew of controversy — first for its title and later for an offensive promotional image that the show's official account tweeted. Despite the initial backlash, the comedy has since become a hit. But Eddie Huang, the chef and food personality who wrote the book on which the comedy is based, is not a fan of the series, and he made that clear Tuesday night in a series of tweets.
It turns out Huang doesn't watch the show.
For the record I don't watch #FreshOffTheBoat on @ABCNetwork
Although he's glad many viewers are able to relate to it, he's dissatisfied with the show's portrayal of his life.
I'm happy people of color are able to see a reflection of themselves through #FreshOffTheBoat on @ABCNetwork but I don't recognize it.
I understand this is a comedy but the great comics speak from pain: Pryor, Rock, Louis... This show had that opportunity but it fails
It's something Huang has personally addressed in the past.
I had to say something because I stood by the pilot. After that it got so far from the truth that I don't recognize my own life.
Prior to Fresh Off the Boat's premiere, Huang detailed the frustrations of watching his memoir become a sitcom in a piece for New York Magazine.
"I didn’t understand how network television, the one-size fits-all antithesis to Fresh Off the Boat, was going to house the voice of a futuristic chinkstronaut," he wrote. "I began to regret ever selling the book, because Fresh Off the Boat was a very specific narrative about SPECIFIC moments in my life, such as kneeling in a driveway holding buckets of rice overhead or seeing pink nipples for the first time."
He noted a few details about his life that the ABC series does not include.
My grandma had bound feet, my grandpa committed suicide, HRS tried to take us from my parents. That shit was real.
He also criticized the show for its use of hip-hop "as an aesthetic thing without the foundation."
My relationship to hip hop & back culture rose from being the victim of domestic violence. It's not a game. That music meant something to me
@pelin_shorp naw I don't question my own interest. I'm saying it cause the show uses hip hop as an aesthetic thing without the foundation
Though Fresh Off the Boat isn't an accurate representation of Huang's life or even a perfect show, he said it's at least a start to more diversity in television and films.
My only goal was to represent my Taiwanese-Chinese-American experience & I did that. We also proved viewers want diverse content so make it!
Oh, and Huang also had something to say about Deadline's "ethnic castings" article.
Lastly to the mouth breather that wrote the @Deadline article about diversity reaching its peak FUCK U. You have no idea how hard this is!
Epic.
BuzzFeed News has reached out to ABC for comment on Huang's tweets, and is awaiting their response.