http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42779407/

Police arrested a singer on racism charges after a man reportedly of Chinese descent complained about his performance of the song "Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports.

Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun newspaper that he and his band were performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.

"We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets," he told the newspaper. "People of all races were loving it. Chinese people have never been offended by it before."

But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking by with his mother hurled an expletive and made an obscene hand gesture at the performers during the Sunday afternoon performance, then took a photo with his cell phone.

"We hadn't even seen them when we started the song. He must have phoned the police," The Sun quoted him as saying.

The man claimed he was "subjected to racial abuse," police told BBC News, and complained to the police the same evening.

Ledger told The Sun that police called him later that evening — while he was eating at a Chinese restaurant — to arrange a meeting. It was at that meeting that police arrested him, Ledger said.

The BBC report said police released Ledger after his arrest, intending to question him further at a later date.

"An investigation into this allegation is continuing to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened," a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman told the network.

"I thought it was a joke but they were serious," Ledger told The Sun. "They seemed pretty amazed but said the law is the law and it was their duty. It's political correctness gone potty (a British term for crazy)."

The owner of the bar defended Ledger, telling the newspaper that he doesn't believe the song or the singer are racist, and that there "is no way he would abuse anyone."

Seriously, what's with this hyper-sensitivity? I don't find the lyrics of the song racist, the lyrics are apparently inspired by the writer watching a kung-fu movie, and even if the lyrics would be considered un-PC should that be a reason to arrest people for performing such lyrics? I wonder if it's now illegal to perform such hits as "China Girl", "Turning Japanese", "Walk Like An Egyptian" and "Rock The Casbah" in England.

It has turned into a "litigious society." There was a time as a child when if you didn't make the local sports team, you practiced till you got better, or at least good enough to join. Now if you don't make the team, your parents sue (or at least threaten to sue) the coach and you're added to the roster.

Same thing applies here: anytime you're not satisfied with anything, have the police called, which may lead to arrest, and then can possibly lead to frivolous lawsuits and hopefully, your satisfaction, at having (at the least) embarrassed your intended target, if not getting whatever you want.

Yeah, that goes too far. Unfortunately I've met quite a few individuals in England that have no idea what racism really is. So I don't find the story itself unbelievable.

"Kung Fu Fighting" is just a silly, naive song. If anything, by performing it today you would only manage to poke fun at the naive enthusiasm westeners have always had for martial arts.

I think that says it all.

You can get arrested for saying something racist?

That's just stupid. You can't litigate morality and certainly not at the cost of freedom of speech.

Had it incited violence or was 'hate speech' which incited violence, I could understand the reaction.

However, the song isn't even racist.

As an Asian, I think it borderlines on our version of 'black face', but I don't like it when

society gets to the point that you have this checklist of things you can or cannot say to each other.

I think the insecurity has real and obvious roots. Think of the jews for example.

In Germany it started with jokes and stereotypes. Then it went to full scale propaganda.

Then policy...then the ghettos...and so forth.

Minorities in various countries are often sensitive or 'hyper-sensitive' because we know

that it only starts with a joke.

It's one of the reasons I was so appalled at Eddie Murphie's gay and AIDS jokes. It only

starts with a joke and before you know it there's bullying and kids killing themselves. Note,

that I'm only illustrating my point and not saying that a so-so comedian like Murphy

could actually incite such a social movement.

But, I digress. Back to this case. It's bullshit, and the guy should just relax about it.

I can't believe that racist remarks are illegal. They should be dealt with through

public chastising and other methods--but litigation? That's absurd. And besides,

it wasn't even racist.

the world's gone bonkers! i LOVE that song..

http://www.metro.co.uk/ne...snt-racist

everybody was kung fu fighting!!

[Edited 4/28/11 6:52am]

A few years ago I used to work with this young Vietnamese lady. There was always a radio playing at work, and this song came on, and she stopped what she was doing to turn the radio off. The thing about this was that I had never seen her mad at all before (she was always really happy and peppy), so it was a shock to everyone else, including other Asians there. I don't think she had heard the song before, from what I gathered.

That's just silly. The singer should have been arrested because he uses a... keytar.

The definition of racism has changed. It used to mean prejudices/discrimination against people based on their actual or perceieved race. It's gotten to the point where even mentioning someone's race is racist. The song mentions specific Asian charaters who are into Kung Fu fighting. Must be racist! :rollseyes

Oh great. Now I can't stop listening to that dumb song.

The thing is, the legal criterion for intervention is that somebody feels they've been a victim of some kind of racially aggravated act. The police are then duty bound to investigate the claim. The guy wasn't arrested for playing Kung Fu Fighting, per se; he was arrested because a Chinese guy walking past took offence at what he felt was some kind of racist act, and we don't know if that was simply the song itself or a belief that the singer had started up that song because he walked past or something.

Either way, I don't imagine the guy will ever be charged with anything, or that Chinese people en masse will start rallying against this song. But these "Ooh, look, aren't the minorites oversensitive?" stories always seem to make a big splash in the popular press for some reason.

Ooh, look, aren't the minorites oversensitive?

Now, had they'd been singing:

Everybody was bullfighting

Girls were flamenco dancing

I'd be mad as hell

It's all fun and games until the song is about you.

This reminds me of the time I was in Florida and I was in the bathroom with my friend (both of us are gay). We were just standing near the sinks and these 3 guys came in and one of them started singing Dancing Queen. I instantly felt like he was attacking me, but I was never really sure. He could just be a huge ABBA fan, but I highly doubt it. It was just a feeling in my stomach that I had but who knows...

purplehippieonthe1 said:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42779407/

Police arrested a singer on racism charges after a man reportedly of Chinese descent complained about his performance of the song "Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports.

Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun newspaper that he and his band were performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.

"We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets," he told the newspaper. "People of all races were loving it. Chinese people have never been offended by it before."

But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking by with his mother hurled an expletive and made an obscene hand gesture at the performers during the Sunday afternoon performance, then took a photo with his cell phone.

"We hadn't even seen them when we started the song. He must have phoned the police," The Sun quoted him as saying.

The man claimed he was "subjected to racial abuse," police told BBC News, and complained to the police the same evening.

Ledger told The Sun that police called him later that evening — while he was eating at a Chinese restaurant — to arrange a meeting. It was at that meeting that police arrested him, Ledger said.

The BBC report said police released Ledger after his arrest, intending to question him further at a later date.

"An investigation into this allegation is continuing to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened," a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman told the network.

"I thought it was a joke but they were serious," Ledger told The Sun. "They seemed pretty amazed but said the law is the law and it was their duty. It's political correctness gone potty (a British term for crazy)."

So it's against the law to perform Carl Douglas's Kung Fu Fighting in England if Chinese People are present?

MidniteMagnet said:

This reminds me of the time I was in Florida and I was in the bathroom with my friend (both of us are gay). We were just standing near the sinks and these 3 guys came in and one of them started singing Dancing Queen. I instantly felt like he was attacking me, but I was never really sure. He could just be a huge ABBA fan, but I highly doubt it. It was just a feeling in my stomach that I had but who knows...

So weird.

So Glee.

HotGritz said:

purplehippieonthe1 said:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42779407/

Police arrested a singer on racism charges after a man reportedly of Chinese descent complained about his performance of the song "Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports.

Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun newspaper that he and his band were performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.

"We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets," he told the newspaper. "People of all races were loving it. Chinese people have never been offended by it before."

But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking by with his mother hurled an expletive and made an obscene hand gesture at the performers during the Sunday afternoon performance, then took a photo with his cell phone.

"We hadn't even seen them when we started the song. He must have phoned the police," The Sun quoted him as saying.

The man claimed he was "subjected to racial abuse," police told BBC News, and complained to the police the same evening.

Ledger told The Sun that police called him later that evening — while he was eating at a Chinese restaurant — to arrange a meeting. It was at that meeting that police arrested him, Ledger said.

The BBC report said police released Ledger after his arrest, intending to question him further at a later date.

"An investigation into this allegation is continuing to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened," a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman told the network.

"I thought it was a joke but they were serious," Ledger told The Sun. "They seemed pretty amazed but said the law is the law and it was their duty. It's political correctness gone potty (a British term for crazy)."

So it's against the law to perform Carl Douglas's Kung Fu Fighting in England if Chinese People are present?

Nope. It's against the law to racially harass someone, and the legal criterion for the police to take that seriously and investigate is that someone feels they've been the victim of such harassment (as this pissed off Chinese dude does, for whatever reason). If it turns out that it's no more than someone getting peeved at a song, I'd be surprised if it even leads to so much as a charge, let alone a successful prosecution, tbh.

deebee said:

HotGritz said:

So it's against the law to perform Carl Douglas's Kung Fu Fighting in England if Chinese People are present?

Nope. It's against the law to racially harass someone, and the legal criterion for the police to take that seriously and investigate is that someone feels they've been the victim of such harassment (as this pissed off Chinese dude does, for whatever reason). If it turns out that it's no more than someone getting peeved at a song, I'd be surprised if it even leads to so much as a charge, let alone a successful prosecution, tbh.

Ok, but if the accused is merely performing someone else's hit song then how is that racial harassment? Also, kung fu is a martial arts form (method of fighting and body conditioning) and not a "person" so it seems there is no true racial harassment.

Its confusing. Kind of scary because I could see that type of hypersensitivity being born here in the U.S. We don't have advertisements for Christmas anymore in some areas cuz supposedly its culturally intolerant. Everything is "happy Holidays"

HotGritz said:

deebee said:

Nope. It's against the law to racially harass someone, and the legal criterion for the police to take that seriously and investigate is that someone feels they've been the victim of such harassment (as this pissed off Chinese dude does, for whatever reason). If it turns out that it's no more than someone getting peeved at a song, I'd be surprised if it even leads to so much as a charge, let alone a successful prosecution, tbh.

Ok, but if the accused is merely performing someone else's hit song then how is that racial harassment? Also, kung fu is a martial arts form (method of fighting and body conditioning) and not a "person" so it seems there is no true racial harassment.

Its confusing. Kind of scary because I could see that type of hypersensitivity being born here in the U.S. We don't have advertisements for Christmas anymore in some areas cuz supposedly its culturally intolerant. Everything is "happy Holidays"

That's why I say I'd be surprised if there's even charges brought. That won't stop the media bandwagon, though, because they love these kinds of 'political correctness gone mad' stories.

purplehippieonthe1 said:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42779407/

Police arrested a singer on racism charges after a man reportedly of Chinese descent complained about his performance of the song "Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports.

Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun newspaper that he and his band were performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.

"We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets," he told the newspaper. "People of all races were loving it. Chinese people have never been offended by it before."

But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking by with his mother hurled an expletive and made an obscene hand gesture at the performers during the Sunday afternoon performance, then took a photo with his cell phone.

"We hadn't even seen them when we started the song. He must have phoned the police," The Sun quoted him as saying.

The man claimed he was "subjected to racial abuse," police told BBC News, and complained to the police the same evening.

Ledger told The Sun that police called him later that evening — while he was eating at a Chinese restaurant — to arrange a meeting. It was at that meeting that police arrested him, Ledger said.

The BBC report said police released Ledger after his arrest, intending to question him further at a later date.

"An investigation into this allegation is continuing to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened," a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman told the network.

"I thought it was a joke but they were serious," Ledger told The Sun. "They seemed pretty amazed but said the law is the law and it was their duty. It's political correctness gone potty (a British term for crazy)."

The owner of the bar defended Ledger, telling the newspaper that he doesn't believe the song or the singer are racist, and that there "is no way he would abuse anyone."

Seriously, what's with this hyper-sensitivity? I don't find the lyrics of the song racist, the lyrics are apparently inspired by the writer watching a kung-fu movie, and even if the lyrics would be considered un-PC should that be a reason to arrest people for performing such lyrics? I wonder if it's now illegal to perform such hits as "China Girl", "Turning Japanese", "Walk Like An Egyptian" and "Rock The Casbah" in England.

Hmm just listened to the singer's interview http://www.postchronicle....1744.shtml

Honestly if that Chinese descent guy called the police JUST BECAUSE the singer was singing "Kung Fu Fighting" song, he's nuts. But I'm a bit suspicious.

1. The Chinese descent guy took photos of the singer while he was performing the song to get evidence

2. The singer claims he was just singing and dancing.

Well...combine these two facts, I have to wonder if the singer was making some sort of mockery while he was "dancing". If that Chinese descent guy was really just upset at the song, he would've recorded a video...But he took 'photos'. I wonder if there were certain moments where the singer got caught up at the moment and did some 'gestures'? I'm just curious...

Btw they don't even know how to do an 'interview' -_- "Are you racist?" wtf...Duh who says yes to that sort of question? The interviewer should've asked the singer how he was dancing or if he was doing anything else than just singing (like, making fun of Asian accent while singing, that type of stuff). Because sometimes we don't even realize what we're doing can be a huge insult to others...Oh yes they also need to do an interview with that Chinese descent guy to get the record perfectly straight as well. Wth.....

P.S. ...I'm Asian and I freaking LOVE this song ^_^ It reminds me of my painful past though DX when I was 12 I got beat up mercilessly at Karate class...I just sucked at it...gave up all martial arts and went for figure skating XD

[Edited 4/28/11 14:13pm]