Admittedly the makeup done on Ashton Kutcher is expertly done; he does look like a sleazy middle-aged Desi guy. Nevertheless in the wake of the demise of Sepia Mutiny I feel its imperative that we at Brown Pundits join in the moral outrage.

Nandalal has already alluded to creeping racism against Desis and while I don’t consider myself part of the pc brigade in anyway Ashton’s ad prank (Punk’d gone wrong?) is along the same lines of the old “Blackface” tradition. It may have been more subtly done (I haven’t seen the ad) but it does seem that Asians, particularly “East Indians” (Pakistan, Bdesh & Sri Lanka included), are the acceptable butt of jokes.

Obviously Desis don’t help themselves (being a highly divided and ideologically riven/insular people) but I just can’t imagine this being really acceptable for any other ethnicity (say apart from East Asians or maybe Middle Easterners) though Robert Downey Jr played a black man in that war film spook but would it be acceptable for Ashton Kutcher to black or Latin up on a prime-time Ad?