LLAG Statement - May 5, 2017
Asian Pacific Americans for Action (APAA) strongly condemns the Love Life of an Asian Guy (LLAG)âs talk at Cornell University. LLAG is a misogynistic and anti-Black man who harasses, steals and profits from the labor of Black and Asian women, and who doesnât stop to think before he throws women (especially Asian women) under the bus for issues that men are complicit in. To the Cornell International Students Union - ISU, Cornell Student Assembly, Haven: Cornell's LGBTQ Student Union's Queer and Asian Society, & Cornell Kappas: We question your choice to treat LLAG as an authority on queer and Asian issues, when his cis-masculine and heterosexual privilege allows him to profit from his activism while having none of the lived experience. We question your choice to actively fund LLAG's efforts to brand himself as an authority on holding Asian communities accountable, when he has so many times refused to be accountable for himself.
In his content, LLAG uses aggressive language which includes anti-Asian, fat-phobic, and gendered slurs. He appropriates AAVE (African American Vernacular English), all while considering himself a âwokeâ individual, and even recently started a movement called âWoke FUâ. LLAG's brand of performative rage in the name of activism ultimately serves to shore up toxic masculinityâthe same toxic, fragile masculinity that claims that Asian women are complicit in white supremacy simply because they are exoticized by the white male gaze, an idea that is inherently repulsive. Recently, LLAG has blamed the Brock Turner case on poor whites and white women. The privilege of a man to blame women, particularly poor women, for rape culture and patriarchy is not only nonsensical but showcases the type of âactivismâ LLAG is known for.
LLAG represents a larger issue within activist circles, especially Asian American activist circles. While heterosexual, cis men are often the âfaceâ of the movement, they do so by stealing and profiting from the emotional, intellectual and physical labor of women, femmes, and non-cis men, especially black folks. Having certain privilege over queer/trans people and women, he should be elevating those voices by passing them the mic and crediting them when heâs benefitted from their labor. Instead of creating an open learning environment, LLAG creates a hostile, competitive climate in which gaslighting and other forms of victim-abuse are not only allowed but encouraged.
When others have challenged LLAG on his stance, he has repeatedly responded in an incendiary manner, portraying himself as a victim. In the past, he has blocked, humiliated and disrespected those who critiqued him. He has doxxed followers, including leaking their names over the internet, often leading to these people being forced to delete their accounts to avoid harassment. These actions demonstrate that he is not interested in open dialogue, choosing instead to paint any critiques as attacks on his fragile masculinity. No one is perfect, but repeatedly committing the same aggressions without, at the very least, listening to marginalized people when said people give valid criticism, is a dangerous approach to activism and perpetuates the forms oppression he claims to fight. He is creating a hostile culture for marginalized, vulnerable folks in social justice spaces where people either get gaslighted for disagreeing or start to adopt his hostile abusive behaviors.
LLAG often boasts that he only has three sponsors and that he is not here to make money. We agree, to an extentâthis is not just about the money he makes by indiscriminately appropriating the labor of Black women but also about the social capital and power that he wields over those same women. Everyone who is aware of LLAGâs toxic history but continues to like and follow his page is complicit in the way he uses the sheer size of his follower base to terrorize and threaten people. In an age when the power of social media to not only heavily influence peopleâs opinions but to directly affect the lives of marginalized groups and individuals in our society has been made abundantly clear, we need to hold a critical lens to everyone who holds power on the internet, no matter how âwokeâ they might be. We must recognize that there is a difference between unfounded character assassination and legitimate criticism grounded in past experiences. Based on the consistent patterns of abuse and harassment we have witnessed on his Facebook page and Twitter account, it is increasingly obvious that LLAG cares more about maintaining and expanding his own status as a famous internet âactivistâ rather than actually serving the communities that he claims to advocate for.
It is up to us to hold ourselves, our friends and our communities accountable. As such, APAA calls on Cornell International Students Union - ISU, Cornell Student Assembly, Haven: Cornell's LGBTQ Student Union's Queer and Asian Society, & Cornell Kappas to hold LLAG accountable for his reprehensible actions. To these organizations, we reiterate our opening points questioning (1) why you support such a demonstrably toxic and volatile individual and (2) why you are not only supporting but actively funding this individual and the platform he represents.
We await your response.
SOURCES: on
https://twitter.com/shelovesdresses/status/849241307692191744
https://twitter.com/shelovesdresses/status/848326694897295360
https://twitter.com/ESEAsianBeauty/status/849293595060432896
https://twitter.com/asianbabyteen/status/849993475097600001
https://twitter.com/FeministaJones/status/744587896603181056
https://twitter.com/ztsamudzi/status/852162869235929088
http://imgur.com/a/wK40Q
http://receiptgate.blogspot.com/2017/04/debunking-abuse-allegations-against.html















