Bake Off star Kim-Joy calls out "racism" from online trolls
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The Great British Bake Off star Kim-Joy has taken to Instagram to hit out against the racism and other abuse she has received from online trolls.
Kim-Joy, who competed in the ninth series of The Great British Bake Off and finished as a runner-up, took to Instagram to share several screenshots of the messages.
Some of them called her "scary" and compared her to a Wallace & Gromit character, while other messages compared her to a Studio Ghibli character, called her a fake Asian, and said she had a "punchable face."
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In a lengthy post, Kim-Joy, who married in 2022, addressed these vile messages and said that she has been unable to ignore these posts from the trolls.
"Truthfully, I’m not a robot and I don’t have great self esteem, so these comments have lurked in my brain. Over time I’ve been able to laugh about them a bit more and feel a bit more confident, but sharing a bunch of these comments is me finally saying: you DONT BELONG IN MY BRAIN."
She continued: "Because looking like a character from a Ghibli films is absolute goals, and I’d take that ANY DAY even if it means there’s some sad people thinking I look like a spoon/melted clown/fake Asian (people’s racism really comes out when you don’t fit into their stereotyped box)."
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Kim-Joy wrote that she was inspired by fellow chef Poppy O'Toole, who shared sexist comments she receives online, and said that is "tired" of putting on a brave face.
"We’re told to ‘ignore’ all the negativity and focus on the good - but thing is it’s human nature to zoom in on the negative, and ignoring is just avoiding being vulnerable and doesn’t actually achieve anything," Kim-Joy wrote.
"Lots of these people are looking for validation from their friends and peers (you can see it through how conversational they are) they want to BOND over their shared hate, and they will keep on doing that unless they start to feel guilt or shame."
She finished: "So shame on them. They need to start baking cute things and bond over that instead."
Kim-Joy finished as a runner-up in 2018's edition of The Great British Bake Off, and also went on to win the show's 2022 New Year's special.
Readers can donate to besea.n (Britain's East and Southeast Asian Network), Stand Up to Racism, and End Violence and Racism Against ESEA Communities (EVR).
Readers in the US can donate to Asian Americans Advancing Justice, AAPI Women Lead, and Stop AAPI Hate.
The Great British Bake Off airs on Channel 4 in the UK. In the US, it's known as The Great British Baking Show, and streams on Netflix.
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