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Charlyne Yi Recounts Racist Conversation with David Cross

Comedian David Cross has reached out to actress Charlyne Yi to clear the air after she accused him of making racist comments during a decade-old meeting.

Yi, who has featured in films like This Is 40 and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, recalled the encounter in a series of Twitter posts on Monday (16Oct17), claiming Cross first made fun of her choice of clothing.

https://twitter.com/charlyne_yi/status/919815401902444544

“I think about the first time I met David Cross ten years ago (and) he made fun of my pants (that were tattered because I was poor),” wrote the 31-year-old, who is of Asian and Hispanic heritage.

“Dumbfounded I stared at him speechless and he said to me ‘what’s a matter? You don’t speak English?? Ching-chong-ching-chong (sic).'”

Cross is said to have noticed she was upset, but continued with his offensive remarks:

“He asked me if I was going to fight with him karate in a southern accent (sic),” she stated, adding, “It is very uncool that a 40+ man was being racist towards me, being a young 20-year-old woman who was clearly on the verge of tears from his first racist comment.”

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Twitter users alerted Cross to Yi’s comments, prompting the Arrested Development star to address the accusations in a statement posted on the microblogging site.

In the message, the 53-year-old admits he was shocked to read her tweets, because he remembers the meeting going very differently, although he is sorry if he behaved inappropriately.

“This accusation from Charlyne took me by surprised (sic) and was deeply upsetting,” he began. “I would never intentionally hurt someone like that.

He continued, “I do remember meeting her though. She was the then girlfriend of a good friend of mine and we were about to start working on a movie together. I am NOT accusing Charlene of lying and I’m truly sorry if I hurt her, it was never my intention to do that…”

Concluding his response, Amber Tamblyn’s husband declared: “I am not a racist nor a bully and loathe them in real life.”

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