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Twitter Calls Out The Hollywood Reporter For Photo Of Wrong Asian Comedian

The publication tweeted an article about "Saturday Night Live's" casting of Bowen Yang ― the first Chinese-American cast member -- but with a picture of Joel Kim Booster.

The Hollywood Reporter tweeted out an article Friday after “Saturday Night Live” named Bowen Yang as the show’s first Chinese-American cast member. The only issue was that the photo they posted was of a different Asian comedian, Joel Kim Booster.

In the since-deleted tweet, the magazine invited people to “get to know SNL’s newest cast member” and tagged Yang, who is an “SNL” writer and the son of Chinese immigrants. But the picture beneath it showed Booster, who is a comedian starring in NBC’s new show “Sunnyside” and who was born in South Korea and raised in the U.S.

The Hollywood Reporter later posted a new tweet with a correct photo of Yang. (The article, which was published June 20, included photos of both Yang and Booster from a joint interview.) The magazine then apologized, saying the previous tweet was a “mistake” and “contained an incorrect image due to a photo error.”

But people on Twitter were quick to catch the mistake and call it out:

HuffPost reached out to representatives of Yang and Booster but did not immediately receive a response.

Thursday’s announcement of Yang’s historic casting ― he’s only the third Asian cast member in “SNL” history and one of only a handful of LGBTQ stars ― was quickly overshadowed by controversy surrounding another new cast member, Shane Gillis. A resurfaced video from 2018 showed Gillis, who is white, making anti-Asian jokes and using a slur.

Late Thursday, Gillis issued a weak apology “to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said.”

“SNL,” which has been around for 45 seasons and has repeatedly struggled with issues of diversity and inclusion, has yet to comment on Gillis’ racist video.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.