PA ImagesLast night, February 9, Parasite made history – becoming the first ever film not in the English language to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
That wasn’t the only record broken by the South Korean film, which took home a more-than-impressive four Oscars at last night’s ceremony; matching Walt Disney’s record set in 1953.
Taking to the stage at the 92nd Academy Awards after each historic win, the team behind Parasite – including director Bong Joon Ho, executive producer Miky Lee, and members of the cast – celebrated their achievements along with the audience. But it turns out they weren’t the only ones being celebrated…
PA ImagesNope. Apparently John Cho – a Korean American actor who is not, I repeat not in the movie – was also congratulated for his part in Parasite.
To confirm, Cho – who is perhaps best known for playing Harold in the Harold and Kumar film series, but who is also a part of the Star Trek franchise and starred in 2018 thriller Searching – was not involved in Parasite in any way.
But that didn’t stop people from mistaking Cho for a member of the cast or crew on numerous occasions, something the 47-year-old actor pointed out on social media after the award ceremony, writing: ‘Standing with Parasite crew, I got congratulated A LOT. Lol.’
Standing with Parasite crew, I got congratulated A LOT. Lol.
— John Cho (@JohnTheCho) February 10, 2020
Fans of the actor soon began expressing their disbelief that such a mistake could be made, with one person pointing out the ‘sad commentary’ on our society that those who congratulated him ‘probably saw someone who “looked” Korean and figured [he was] part of Parasite‘s large cast’.
Another person wrote: ‘I’m Asian and I expect coworkers congratulate me tomorrow,’ while one person simply wrote: ‘disappointed but not surprised.’
When someone else attempted to excuse the incident, writing ‘its [sic] ok to mistake someone as a crew member,’ they got shut down quickly, with another exclaiming: ‘Dude, it’s JOHN CHO. He’s a household name. You’re really going to tell me you wouldn’t recognise the guy who played Sulu and Harold if you saw him?’
Sad commentary that the ones who congratulated you probably saw someone who "looked" Korean and figured you were part of Parasite's large cast.
— Jeff Arner (@ArnJmrk) February 10, 2020
Jesus… pic.twitter.com/tb695vUqAg
— Natasha Rothwell (@natasharothwell) February 10, 2020
I’m Asian and I expect coworkers congratulate me tomorrow 😂
— Cis Saints (@CisSaints) February 10, 2020
Touché. You wouldn’t congratulate Brad Pitt for his part in Joker if he was standing with the crew just because he’s white and American, so then why are people confusing Cho with the Parasite cast and crew just because he was born in South Korea?
Although extremely disappointing, the mishap ultimately didn’t take away from Parasite‘s record-breaking night, with the film scooping up the awards for Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film, and Bong Joon Ho winning Best Director and Best Screenplay.
Congrats, guys!
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).