Newspaper Employee Fired for “Chinky Winky” and “Dinky Doo” Asian Slurs

From "proofreading error" to fireable offense.

Just a few days after Philadelphia Public Record publisher Jimmy Tayoun Sr. (pictured) shrugged off the Asian slurs that appeared in last week’s edition of his newspaper, chalking them up to a “proofreading error,” Tayoun has terminated the responsible employee.

In the August 21st edition of the free weekly tabloid, Asians seen in a photograph with City Councilman Mark Squilla were captioned as “Chinky Winky,” “Dinky Doo,” and “Me Too.” When we reached out to Tayoun about the caption on Friday, he told us that we were making something out of nothing. “Nobody is offended,” he said. “Stop trying to start trouble.”

But Tayoun was wrong. Plenty of people — Asian and otherwise — were offended, and outrage ensued, with talk of a boycott of the newspaper’s advertisers, which include car dealers and potential mayoral candidate Anthony Williams.

As we reported earlier, the newspaper was forced to issue an apology, and now, according to Daily News scribe Chris Brennan, Tayoun has fired the unnamed employee. “We don’t want to add fuel to the fire,” Tayoun told Brennan.

PHOTO via Facebook.