Spadea, Rooney dig into the Nissin-Osaka cartoon controversy on ‘Chasing News’

By The Staff
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Save Jersey Founder and Blogger-in-Chief Matt Rooney was back on Chasing News with Bill Spadea on Wednesday night, Save Jerseyans, this time debating topics including the decision of Japanese noodle company Nissin to lighten the skin tone of part-Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka in a new cartoon advertisement. The end result — as is common in Anime — was a more Japanese-looking Osaka cartoon character. 

Inappropriate? Or a non-issue?

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“It’s a Japanese company portraying a… at least part Japanese sports hero as Japanese. If you go to a country in Africa where they celebrate Christmas, Santa Claus is black. Guess what? St. Nicholas was Nordic,” said Rooney, debating co-panelist Afia Yunus and noting that the mythical Santa Claus’s origins remain controversial. “Let’s get over this. Is color […] does it matter or does it not, Bill. That’s part of the confusion I have. Either we’re all the same and these things are superficial and secondary or they’re not.”

Watch below:

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The Staff
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