‘The Amazing Race 22’ addresses Vietnam controversy; did they get it right?
We remember back a little over a week ago when “The Amazing Race 22” featured a leg in Vietnam that involved everything from a Vietnam War Memorial featuring a downed American B-52 to a song praising communism. and suddenly thinking to ourselves that it was a little surprising that the race was deciding to go there. Did we think that they were trying to preach an anti-American agenda? Not really. The show has always done its part to look at the world through multiple perspectives, and what they may have been hoping to show in this segment was the impact that this political party and the war had on Vietnamese culture.
However, these events led to a pretty heavy backlash in some places over the past week, and there were calls from some veterans’ organizations for CBS to apologize, proclaiming that the scenes were insulting to those who gave their lives to fight during the war. With that in mind, Sunday’s show began with host Phil Keoghan reading the following statement:
“Parts of last Sunday’s episode, filmed in Vietnam, were insensitive to a group that is very important to us — our nation’s veterans. We want to apologize to veterans, particularly those who served in Vietnam, as well as to their families and any viewers who were offended by the broadcast. All of us here have the most profound respect for the men and women who fight for our country.”
This statement, for those curious, we not included during the broadcast that aired in Canada.
Ultimately, let’s hope this whole incident is now behind the show, as many veterans’ organizations have accepted their apology. We talk all of the time about teams on this show not reading their clue properly and making rash decisions without thinking things through, and this incident can probably be described as the show doing the same exact thing.
Do you think that “The Amazing Race” dealt with the criticism the right way? If you want to read our full review of Sunday’s show, you can do so over here.
Photo: CBS
DianaKat1
March 25, 2013 @ 2:47 pm
I’ve traveled to Vietnam many times and have heard a number of songs praising communism. It IS their government. In my experience, the Vietnamese people are not anti-American. They have moved on and have been warm and generous to me on all my trips. They do have some anti-American propaganda in their museums, however. Those museums are such a small part of what that country is about now.
The Vietnam war took a terrible toll on so many of our US soldiers and their families, so it was probably a mistake to have shown any of those parts. I hope Americans will realize that Vietnam has changed incredibly since 1975 and that they have a large percent of their population who was not even born during the war. I do feel very sorry for any veterans who were offended and hope that they accept AR’s apology.