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Don’t Be Fooled By Kung Fool Company

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When I called Steve Stanley, the executive vice president of licensing and general counsel for the mask’s manufacturer, Disguise, I got some cryptic answers that reveal a slight catch.

But before we get into the details of my phone conversation, here’s how it all came down.

It was Sunday night when I heard the first mention of the mask being marketed early for Halloween. A group called yellowworld.org had actually started a petition drive to protest the mask. Then politicalcircus.com, an Asian Pacific American political site, got into the act, and the word started to spread.

Was the community ready for action?

If it seemed like “Abercrombie & Fitch: The Sequel,” it was and it wasn’t.

The T-shirt affair still makes my tea boil. It doesn’t matter that the shirts were pulled. Whenever I see an Abercrombie logo, I go amok.

So imagine my reaction to the “Kung Fool” mask. The thing makes the Abercrombie T-shirt seem like child’s play.

And the culprit is Disguise, a part of a big multi-national firm based in France, called Cesar Industries S.A., connected to Cesar Inc., New York, with businesses and corporate names that extend throughout Europe and Asia. Its CEO is a guy named Benoit Pousset, a Frenchman who no doubt will be offended if you rhyme Benoit with Coit.

It’s “Ben-wah.”

Perhaps he’s too high up the food chain to approve a $14.99 Kung Fool mask, but as the saying goes, fish stinks from the head. The mask is truly a design of rare ugliness that will make you think Frankenstein was kind of cute. What’s it look like? Close your eyes and think of the most offensive stereotypes of APA males, make them twice as ludicrous, and then double that again. When you open your eyes that’s what you get with Kung Fool. It’s beyond scary ugly. It’s racist ugly.

Any kid who shows up at my door wearing this thing and saying “Trick or Treat,” gets no candy from me. Just sensitivity training.

Am I being oversensitive here? The bowl haircut is actually kind of stylish, topping off a display of veins and brains that ends up looking like a bundt cake. (Hey, how do you think we score so well in math?) The forehead is covered by a red (of course) headband with the Chinese inscription (I’m told) for “loser” on the center.

Is that touch of authenticity supposed to make us feel better? This is not one of us. We know that. Do they?

The eyebrows take a villainous slant, framing bulging almond eyes, one of them blackened, because this Kung Fool must like to take a few hits to the face.

The cheek bones are high, but not because that’s what all the super models want. It’s just better to accentuate the big ears that hang out on the side of the head like tea-cup handles.

And of course, there are the teeth. Bucked, of course. Two of them. This guy is an orthodontist’s dream.

When I found out the CEO was from France, I figured a little ignorance goes a long way. But Disguise’s main corporate headquarters is actually in California, home of diversity, near San Diego. There’s no excuse for this sort of offensive mask.

Have we reached the point where it really just doesn’t matter, that such an ugly caricature is acceptable? Unfortunately, such displays give a thumbs up to greater stereotyping.

Just a mask? Yes, but one that disguises real races.

Still feel we may be oversensitive? Disguise wouldn’t dare make a big-nosed Jew mask.

Or a buck-tooth Black Man mask, complete with watermelon accessory.

So who designs these things in the first place? I placed my call to the company Monday morning.

After going through Disguise’s voice mail hell, by 11 a.m. (PST), I finally reached Steve Stanley, the executive vice president and general counsel.

He had been on the phone all morning.

Was he aware of the complaints?

“Yes,” Stanley replied. “We’re aware of several complaints.”

And what’s your response?

“Our response is,” he paused to gather his words, “we are removing the mask from the line and not shipping anymore.”

Great. So you’re pulling the mask?

“I didn’t say that.”

People can still buy those racist masks?

“If they can find them.”

You won’t be removing them? Why not?

“No comment.”

How many have you distributed?

“That’s confidential.”

How many were you going to distribute?

“That’s confidential.”

In other words, the company will continue to market the presumably hundreds, if not thousands of masks shipped around the country. And still profit from the racism. All while trying to look good by saying they’ve done the right thing and removed the masks “from their line,” though not from the stores. Sure they’re not shipping anymore, but they probably don’t have a warehouse of these things anywhere. Worse, they will surely use the publicity in an attempt to sell even more ugly racist masks than they would have.

Don’t feel duped. Get angry. Don’t let them take you for a Kung Fool. Go amok.

Simple solution. Don’t buy any products or merchandise by Disguise. Or Abercrombie. But why stop there? Don’t patronize any stores that feature Disguise products. That means stores like Spencer’s Gifts. Spirit. Party America. Party City in the East Bay was selling the mask for as much at $24.99.

Disguise wants to show it is doing right, but still profit by not removing the product from the shelves. An important distinction. That’s called having your racism and eating it too. For its actions, Disguise deserves to be force-fed a lot worse.