Critics have praised the ABC sitcom Fresh off the Boat for its portrayal of an Asian-American family adapting to life in 1990s Orlando. But not everyone is pleased with the show — namely, Eddie Huang, whose memoir of the same name is the inspiration for the series.
After Tuesday's Fresh off the Boat episode aired, Huang took to Twitter to declare that the show has turned "so far from the truth" it's no longer about his life at all.
"I had to say something because I stood by the pilot," Huang tweeted. "After that it got so far from the truth that I don't recognize my own life."
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Huang added that his love of hip-hop stems from a much darker origin than the show lets on. "My relationship to hip hop and black culture rose from being the victim of domestic violence. It's not a game. That music meant something to me," he tweeted. "My grandma had bound feet, my grandpa committed suicide, HRS tried to take us from my parents. That sh-t was real."
Huang also tweeted that he was "happy people of color are able to see a reflection of themselves" in the show, but it's still depressing to hear that a show praised for its progress presents what its inspiration sees as "an artificial representation of Asian-American lives."
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