Awkwafina and Lucy Liu's SNL monologues show how Asian representation has changed in 18 years

The Washington Post

The rapper and actress paid tribute to Liu in her SNL monologue on Saturday night, thanking for paving the way by becoming the first Asian female host, in 2000. Looking back at Liu's monologue, it contains one cringeworthy and outdated Asian stereotype after another, as The Washington Post's Amy B. Wang points out. “I just found out that I am the first Asian woman to ever host SNL,” Liu said to applause in 2000. “This is amazing and so cool and, believe me, Connie Chung is pissed. But seriously, Asians have had to deal with a lot of stereotypes, had to overcome a lot of stuff, and I wasn’t sure how sensitive everyone would be here, but ... ” SNL then cut to a "video diary" of Liu working as a masseuse, as a dry-cleaning assistant, and making a potluck dinner, saying she had “made her grandmother’s special recipe for cocker spaniel.” As Wang notes, "if Liu opened the door nearly two decades ago, then Awkwafina strode through it on her own terms Saturday night. She was there to represent herself — not anybody else’s outdated stereotypes." ALSO: Constance Wu and Awkwafina's Crazy Rich Asians co-stars had an SNL viewing party.