'Make My Heart Smile' Chinese drama fails to make netizens smile over alleged racial slur

MANILA, Philippines — The recently premiered Chinese drama (C-drama) "Make My Heart Smile" failed to make Filipino netizens smile nor warm their hearts over an alleged racial slur.

Premiered last February 6, the drama stirred outrage on Twitter after one user (@kthseokitty) posted a screenshot of the show's episode.

excuse me a fucking what?? pic.twitter.com/Fc7FGp8l3Q

— lyza (@cyjgyu) February 9, 2021

It was a screenshot of the scene where a female character was trying on different dresses while the male lead, Luo Zheng, was giving his comments on her chosen outfits. The first dress she wore earned her the comment that she looks "like an aunt."

The second comment earned the outrage after the male lead dismissively said, "You look like a Filipino maid."

The Twitter user's caption read: "As a Filo (slang for Filipino), this is very offensive and disrespectful."  

Some came to the defense of the clip, saying it was mistranslated from "Filipino maiden" to "Filipino maid."

Twitter user @riothyunsuk, however, said that there was no mistranslation that took place. The user also posted the 10-seconder clip of the controversial scene.  

"This is not a mistranslation he said, "???" ? means servant/maid and Filipino is ???? so "??" means Filipino servant why some of the replies keep on excusing this racist drama," the user wrote.

this is not a mistranslation he said, "???" ? means servant/maid and Filipino is ???? so "??" means Filipino servant why some of the replies keep on excusing this racist drama pic.twitter.com/vJP5SFW84P https://t.co/mlU3HPkSHx

— ? (@riothyunsuk) February 9, 2021

Twitter user @the8musique agreed with this comment and replied: "Definitely not a mistranslation, I checked on Chinese search engine and saw that it is a commonly used term to refer to cheap Filipino labor (apparently it also has been used as an umbrella term for all South Asian labor)."

On its MyDramaList page, it said that the C-drama campus romance adapted from a novel has 24 episodes. It has so far received one of the lowest ratings with an average of 1 out of 10.

"I’ve been a fan of Chinese dramas as far as I can remember. However, this is the first drama I have watched, very insulting. I specially waited this drama to be available because I love the line up of the characters. I did not know who are responsible for it, the producer who literally made to insult Filipinos, the actors who did not even tried (sic) to talk about how degrading that line is or the whole production team. Producer do know that there are many Filipino people watching Chinese drama, but because of that line, I think your drama should be drop. It’s disgusting. Again, Don’t watch, Don’t try," wrote MelonCat on the review page of the drama on MyDramaList.

Most of the reviews were posted a day after the outrage, with most reviewers not recommending to give the drama a chance because of the alleged racial slur seen on its episode.