Donald Trump did something offensive again. Speaking at a rally in Delaware, the Republican presidential hopeful imitated an Indian call centre worker. This though was not as egregious as his take on Mexicans and Muslims, it has managed to outrage some people.
Describing a call to his credit card company to find out where the customer care service was based, Trump said imitating the accent, “We are from India”.
A blink and miss statement ordinarily, if not for Trump having consolidated his position as a bit of a boor.
Trump though is not alone, US Vice President Joe Biden did the same thing while referring to call centre employees in 2012.
Jokes about the Indian accent have been around for sometime now. As Russell Peters says, we are fully aware what we sound like.
Then there is the Indian accent in popular sitcoms, often to add to the comedy. These shows also employ every cliched trope about Indians, such as breaking into spontaneous dancing.
Besides The Simpsons’ impossibly named Kwik-E mart owner Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, there is this short clip from an episode, when Bart outsources “The american worker’s sense of entitlement and privilege” and then they all break into a dance.
And in a more recently popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory, arranged marriage combined with, what else, but the “Indian accent”.
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