MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs Wednesday conveyed to Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin the country’s objection to a joke he made in a television show last week about Filipino mail-order brides.
In a letter to Baldwin, Philippine Consul General to New York Cecilia Rebong told the actor that his statement was “derogatory, prejudiced, insensitive and stereotyped Filipino women negatively.”
Baldwin, star of the hit-comedy show “30 Rock” and ex-husband of actress Kim Bassinger, quipped in an interview on the “Late Show with David Letterman” last May 12: “I think about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point or a Russian one, I don’t care, I’m 51.”
Although it was delivered in jest, Baldwin’s remark caused the audience to break into laughter and prompted Letterman, to respond: “Get one for me [also], for later.”
“The general impression given by your statement was that Filipino women can be categorized as easy commodities for sale,” Rebong wrote.
According to Rebong, to label women married to United States nationals as “mail-order brides” simply because they are from overseas, whether from the Philippines or Russia, in particular, was offensive and prejudiced since all foreign nationals married to Americans residing in the US, regardless of how the parties met, have proven the truth of their union.
Rebong also reminded Baldwin that the Philippines was one of the leading countries in the effort to eliminate the trafficking of women and children.
She said that in 1990, Republic Act 6955, “The Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law,” prohibited the commercial trade of Filipino women.
**http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20090521-206263/DFA-protests-Alec-Baldwin-slur
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