Yul Kwon takes Survivor crown

Harry Mok
December 18, 2006

What a great quote by Kwon:

"I wanted America to see Asian-American men as they truly are," he said while speaking about the underepresentation of minorities on television. ..."I want to be a very visible spokesman for talking about how we can get more minorities on TV."

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Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

Harry wrote on Fri, 03/16/2007 - 12:22am
Check out a preview to Hyphen's Yul Kwon-Mr. Hyphen (Robin Sukhadia) Q&A. See it here.
jennyGB wrote on Thu, 01/10/2008 - 6:19am
Yul was bland, Brad was better
Michael Ye wrote on Mon, 12/18/2006 - 10:24am
What a great quote! Yul truly represented. I got goosebumps as I listened to his quote.
colbert wrote on Mon, 12/18/2006 - 10:27am
Props to Yul Kwon. Kwon went to my high school, Northgate, in Walnut Creek. Way to represent!!!
justme wrote on Mon, 12/18/2006 - 10:33am
I nominate Yul Kwon for the next Mr. Hyphen contest : )
Jun Zuniga wrote on Mon, 12/18/2006 - 11:56am
Damn, you don't know how long I've waited to hear someone say what Yul said on tv.Go Yul!
brian G wrote on Mon, 12/18/2006 - 7:33pm
Awesome quote YUL, props to u for representing Asian Americans especially Asian American males! Just like our man MR. Hyphen. Much love, much pride!
Jen wrote on Mon, 12/18/2006 - 7:40pm
It is about time someone said something like that on TV. I am sick of this skewed image of the Asian American Male. Yul is just one example of our wonderful, smart and strong Asian American males. Props to the many Asian American ladies who stand by their AA Men!
Giggle Girl wrote on Tue, 12/19/2006 - 12:27am
I was so freaking excited to see Yul win! Of course I was rooting for him all along, respect for my fellow Asian Americans, but it was AWESOME to FINALLY see such a perfect representation of what the asian american male is. Yul was always so well versed, intelligent in all of his actions, not to mention hella sexy. We need more representations of AAs in the media like Yul, insightful, confident people to break down the stereotypes America continues to tote over our heads.I'm going to go stare in awe at his abs now XD. Come on, I'm only human.
Ravi wrote on Tue, 12/19/2006 - 11:52am
Yul Rocks! And Becky was awesome too! I guess you could say the odds were with the POC's this Survivor, being 3/4 of the total cast, but still, to have all final 4 be POC's!!! Who stuck together despite enormous odds, when one dissension could have crashed the whole ship??? Who says there are no values on TV!Do I get dibs on the Hyphen interview - since I interviewed other API's on Survivor :-) Shii Ann Huang and Daniel Lue?
Jay wrote on Tue, 12/19/2006 - 1:16pm
This is great news for asian-americans. I just heard that another Korean-American guy is on the next "The Apprentice" named James Sun. Maybe, he'll show a different element to Asian-Americans than Yul. Anyways, this is all great news.
Grace wrote on Tue, 12/19/2006 - 2:21pm
Yul is a Stanford grad, Yale law school grad, was in the US Marines officer academy and has killer abs. talk about great combo. He probably cooks too. I nominate him for the next Bachelor!
Southern Belle wrote on Tue, 12/19/2006 - 2:52pm
Yah Yul! Here is a great quote from Yul that I read. It is very reflective of some of the issues HYPHEN covers:"I saw it as an opportunity. Asians are an under-represented minority in TV and when we are on TV it's usually as a stereotype or a caricature."Also I just found out that Yul was in People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive Issue. I am gonna go buy a copy of it right now! Brains and body! I hope he is still single...Oh and I just got my first issue of HYPHEN magazine today, so I am really excited. Great Music Issue guys, awesome cover!
carrie ann wrote on Wed, 12/20/2006 - 4:46pm
let's be realistic here...Yul doesn't represent the average anyone. he's exceptional regardless of his ethnicity. the average man from any race isn't ivy league educated (undergrad and grad), brilliant, and stacked with rock hard abs.
chandler wrote on Sat, 12/23/2006 - 5:37am
c'mon Asians are unfairly portrayed in media. Yul is like a break he will be a very positive lead to many more images of Asian Americans. Asians in the media do not justify Asian Americans.there is diversity in every race and the positive roles of these characters can finally be portrayed in the media. Finally, the positive images of Asian-American men can be finally be seen on tv.
dean wrote on Wed, 12/27/2006 - 9:10pm
First of all, carrie ann, there are more Yul-type Asian-Am males than you think.Second of all, the average white dude is AVERAGE looking and OVERWEIGHT (if not obese) and yet Hollywood TV shows/films are filled w/ the Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Josh Hartnett, etc. types.But what does Hollywood constantly show to represent Asian males? - The stereotypical short, unattractive, geeky Hiro (Masi Oka) types.
anonymous wrote on Fri, 01/05/2007 - 11:29am
There are definitely alot of Yul-like guys out there, especially in the Ivy Leagues and elite schools out west. (their parents aren't old-money legacies nor do they get affirmative action benefits, so they got in by their sheer intellectual and physical merits to raise the averages). Against the norms of American society, we 2nd gen asian guys tend to "gun" in all endeavors (which unfortunately usually means school) because of this huge chip on our shoulders from the stereotypes we carry growing up.