At an exclusive boat show, a man was captured abusing an Australian-Asian fisherman with racial slurs before his well-dressed partner told the victim he was ’embarrassing himself’ and tried to force him out.
John Lee, the owner of the angling-focused YouTube channel JYL Fishing TV, posted video online showing him being bullied over the weekend at the Sydney International Boat Show in Cockle Bay.
As shown in the video, Mr. Lee used a QR code to sign in to a booth when another visitor approached him and took his fishing rod without asking beforehand.
Mr. Lee said, “I don’t know,” to which the man retorted, “Is some ting wong?”
In the video, Mr. Lee called the man out, accusing him of making a “racist” joke, but the man persisted, asking, “Aren’t you Aussie? Throw a shrimp on the barbie (BBQ) mate.”
Despite the fact that sadly these kind of situations happen often, Mr. Lee, who is of Korean descent, told Daily Mail Australia that he was not surprised by the racist attack.
The man’s girlfriend interjected, saying ‘Matt, just shut up please’, as bystanders remained silent during the exchange.
The woman eventually grabbed her husband and dragged him away, telling Mr Lee to ‘back off’ as he turned to follow them.
‘You f***ing liked it!’ the man yells over his lover’s shoulder.
‘You f***ing a**hole,’ Mr Lee responds, adding ‘what’s your name?’
As the pair walked away, his partner continues abusing Mr Lee.
‘How embarrassing,’ she said
‘Grow a f***ing penis… seriously.’
After her husband left, the woman at the front desk apologised for the couple’s behaviour before Mr. Lee and his friend returned to the stall.
A little while later, however, security approached Mr. Lee and his friend and informed them that the woman, who claimed to be the stand’s owner, had complained and asked that they be excluded from the event.
The security personnel decide not to eject them after hearing their side of the story and stating that the man appeared to be drunk.
Mr Lee uploaded the footage to his channel on Monday.
‘I probably could have handled the situation more calmly, but I lost it when he pinched me as the bloke was somewhat forced to walk off by the lady,’ he wrote.
‘My intention of this video of the incident after thinking through it thoroughly is to create awareness of casual racism and how often it happens.
‘The whole incident did ruin 30 minutes of our day. I hope they [the couple] can learn from this or over time that there is no room for racism.’
Many commenters praised Mr. Lee for pointing out the behaviour, and some even shared related experiences of their own.
‘This sort of casual racism I’ve experienced my entire life growing up in Australia,’ one man said.
‘Thank you for standing up for yourself and calling that racist out! The way that woman treated you, John, and how she defended that racist was disgusting.’
Someone else added: ‘Thank you for not taking it and standing up for yourselves.
‘It’s unfortunate that some think casual racism or racism altogether is still acceptable in today’s society.’
Eyachts, the company with a stand in the background of the video, confirmed it had no involvement in the video – and the man and woman have no affiliation with the company.
‘Eyachts is incredibly disappointed that such unacceptable behaviour took place,’ the company said.
‘Neither Eyachts nor any of our associated companies condone racist or discriminatory behaviour of any type or at any time and it is very disappointing that such casual racism still appears to be prevalent.’
‘Eyachts have already extended our support to John following the incident and he has acknowledged that Eyachts were in no way involved with the unacceptable behaviour – in fact he states in his video description that Eyachts have been fully supportive throughout the ordeal.’