Rainn Wilson calls this episode of "The Office" 'jawdroppingly' offensive: 'They're racist and insensitive' Raechal ShewfeltSeptember 12, 2025 at 5:40 AM 0 peacock Rainn Wilson said 'A Benihana Christmas' makes him cringe Rainn Wilson also cringes watching back certain episodes of The Office.
- - Rainn Wilson calls this episode of "The Office" 'jaw-droppingly' offensive: 'They're racist and insensitive'
Raechal ShewfeltSeptember 12, 2025 at 5:40 AM
0
peacock
Rainn Wilson said 'A Benihana Christmas' makes him cringe
Rainn Wilson also cringes watching back certain episodes of The Office.
The actor played beet-growing oddball Dwight Schrute on all nine seasons of NBC's Emmy-winning mockumentary that aired from 2005 to 2013.
"Listen you know, the Benihana Christmas episode where Michael (Steve Carell) and Andy (Ed Helms) draw with a Sharpie on one of the Asian women that they've brought back to the Christmas party is jaw-droppingly, kind of horrific," Wilson said on a recent episode of The Daily Beast's "The Last Laugh" podcast. "And it's a tricky conversation. It's like they're clueless, and in their cluelessness, they're racist and insensitive, and they're always saying the wrong thing. And that's Michael, Dwight, and Andy — and Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) for that matter. So it's a show based around clueless, insensitive, racist, sexist people that kind of mirrors the United States in a lot of ways."
Theo Wargo/Getty
Rainn Wilson pictured in 2023
In the episode that Wilson mentioned, office manager Michael Scott is upset about his girlfriend breaking up with him, and a few of the men at Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch take him out to the chain to have some fun. While Dwight, Andy, and Jim (John Krasinski) do that, they return to the office with two of their female servers. When a drunken Michael can't tell the two Asian women apart, he makes a mark on his date so he can identify her.
"You want to encourage it, because it's funny as hell, and it also kind of skewers a particular American sensibility. But it definitely goes pretty far if you dig deep," Wilson explained. "Could it happen today? I think it would have to be very, very different if it were made in this environment."
The episode "A Benihana Christmas," which aired as an hour-long installment on Dec. 14, 2006, was episode 10 of the third season. And Wilson's not the only one who's noted the discomfort he feels from watching it today.
Jennifer Celotta, one of the writers behind the episode, was asked about it by Jenna Fischer when she stopped by The Office Ladies podcast in August 2020.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
"So, Jen, now we want to talk about this storyline with the Benihana waitresses and how Michael can't tell them apart," said Fischer, who played Pam Beesley. "And I know we traded e-mails about this, even though we're saying, 'Michael, you should know better. What you're doing is wrong.' Is it even right to put that storyline out there? Can you share your reaction to rewatching it?"
Celotta answered that she was "conflicted" even when it was made.
"There was this like Archie Bunker, Michael Scott, David Brent thing that we would make a joke that this is clearly inappropriate. But some of that stuff is just not appropriate, even if it's being made a joke, fun of, and some is," Celotta said of the main characters in All in the Family and the British version of The Office. "And I don't know where some of the line is, but what is offensive? What is going to hurt somebody? What is making fun of a character who does this? And is that even okay? Or where's the line for that? We're constantly growing and have to understand, even if our intention was to do something to show how ridiculous this behavior is at the time, how does that portrayal come across and is that affecting people? And just taking it all in and just trying to educate myself as much as I can about how what we put out there affects people."
Listen to Wilson's full conversation above.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: DEVI MAG
Read More >> Full Article on Source: DEVI MAG
#LALifestyle #USCelebrities