A Chicago activist will appear on the new series “The Internet Ruined My Life” to explain how tweeting a response to a perceived racist joke by “The Colbert Report” led to death threats, the Syfy network announced Tuesday.
The woman, who grew up in Lake Zurich and goes by the pen name “Suey Park,” got the #CancelColbert hashtag to trend in 2014 after she responded to a tweet posted by a representative for Stephen Colbert’s former Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report.”
“I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever,” the show rep tweeted. The joke was inspired by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s announcement about the creation of a foundation to help Native American tribes amid backlash over the team’s name.
Park responded on Twitter: “The Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals has decided to call for #CancelColbert. Trend it.”
The post, which made headlines worldwide, led to death threats and a sniper outside Park’s window threatening to pull the trigger, according to Syfy.
“I lost my income. I wasn’t safe,” Park told The New Republic in a May story. “It was scary. Really scary.”
Colbert devoted a segment on his show to Park’s post and joked, “This was close. We almost lost me.”
Syfy’s six-episode series, set to premiere 9 p.m. March 9, will explore the dark side of social media with first-person accounts from people like Park whose posts drew significant backlash.
