Joe Jonas has a Miley Cyrus-esque racist photo scandal


Another day, another tween scandal. Does everyone remember the Miley Cyrus racist photo scandal? Quick recap: first, photos were released of Miley and some friends making “slant eyes” at the camera. When some people got outraged, Miley gave an epically bad non-apology apology. Miley got slammed some more, and finally Miley gave a real apology. Other stuff happened along the way, but once Miley gave a real apology, the furor pretty much died down.

Now it seems we’re going for a remix. And I didn’t even care for the original song. Middle Jonas brother Joe Jonas has done the exact same thing as Miley – he was photographed making “slant eyes” at the camera. The only difference is that Miley was surrounded by friends, and Joe Jonas is alone in the picture. I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse. The Huffington Post has more:

Weeks after Miley Cyrus apologized for posing in a similar manner and denied that she is a racist, middle Jonas Brother Joe Jonas appears to be the gentleman in a photo pulling down his eyelids with his pinky fingers.

Jonas, who like the guy in the photo wears a purity ring, is an older brother of Miley’s ex boyfriend Nick Jonas.

Joe is 19.

No word when the photo was taken or where it came from before surfacing on Gossip Teen.

From The Huffington Post

What is with these tween stars and their anti-Asian racism? Do they not understand what a huge market the Asian and Asian-American communities are? It’s just bad business, in addition to being rude and nasty.

If this picture is from after Miley Cyrus’s photo scandal, Joe Jonas is not only racist, he’s just dumb. If it’s date of origin is from before Miley’s scandal erupted, Joe might have a plausible excuse (“I didn’t know.”). In either case, Joe should look to the first part of Miley’s scandal to see how not to behave. He should just offer a quick, heartfelt apology and say that he’s learned his lesson. Then I can go back to ignoring him.

Note by Celebitchy: There is also a chance this is a Photoshop job, in which case Joe can just issue a statement that he never did this. It’s hard to tell because the image is so grainy.

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41 Responses to “Joe Jonas has a Miley Cyrus-esque racist photo scandal”

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  1. GimmeABreak says:

    Who knows when this photo was taken. Judging by his shirt, 1984.

    Agree with Celebitchy…the Asian market is HUGE and it would behoove these little teentwats to play nice. Asians always turn out for rock stars when we can’t be bothered with them anymore. I think the Scorpions are still rocking stadiums over there!

  2. Aleksa says:

    How is this different to pulling a face?? We all have pics where we mug for the camera, it depends on what the intention is, but noone can know the context in which this pictures were taken (his or Miley´s). I don´t like either of them, but it seems to me things were possibly blown out of proportion??

  3. Wench says:

    Oh, COME ON! Because he’s doing that he’s suddenly anti-Asian?

    So… If the next day he is pictured in a white shirt, does that mean he supports the KKK? Talk about unnecessary drama.

  4. CB Rawks says:

    Pace yourself Wench, don’t burn out every struggling brain cell with one stupid comment.

  5. anon says:

    Couldn’t he have possibly been making fun of Miley, and someone snapped a photo? Considering the history with his brother and her, that may be likely imo.Who hasn’t mad fun of a sibling’s ex?

  6. Lee says:

    also, whenever photographs of ignorant celebrities doing this (I believe it was the Spanish basketball team before Miley Cyrus?) surface, there is always a public outrage and an issued apology. but no minority group would make claims that a white T-shirt denotes the KKK, neither does anyone feel the need to apologize for such a shirt.

    wearing white doesn’t conjure up a negative connotation as does pulling your eyes to the corners of your face.

  7. jessica says:

    how do you know thats what he’s doing? maybe he rubbing his eyes and someone caught that. maybe he’s to high and he just needed to rub his eyes

  8. Wench says:

    Haha!

    You highly-strung fools are so wrongly pedantic. He’s pulling a face – it’s like if a man picks up a baby he’s a paedophile. So away from the mark – you people are dangerous morons.

  9. HEB says:

    I don’t think they realize its “anti” Asian, they just think its funny. And there’s a good chance that their Asian friends are egging them on, that happened to me.

  10. DD says:

    Oh no. Here we go again. Thank god I’m not a celebrity or else the photo of me slanting my eyes and my Asian friend opening his eyes wider would be dissected and ripped apart for its racist intententions. Although I’m sure noone would notice my Asian friend was opening his eyes wide to mock white people.

  11. eternalcanadian says:

    there’s that lovely purity ring that is nothing but a bunch of bunk (we all know they’re pulling it regularly, please–look at sweet miley 😛 ). no one rubs their eyes that way. he definitely is doing the “asian” mug miley did. young people are so rude these days. it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. i haven’t seen this on other web-sites so who knows.

  12. luxemburg says:

    I agree that wench makes really bad analogies. it just discounts everything he/she’s saying, even if he actually did make a good point (which definitely isn’t the case)

  13. Aleksa says:

    In Europe, where I live, people are not so sensitive to these issues… I have oriental friends , and they would not take offence to this at all!

  14. boomchakaboom says:

    @Aleksa: You’ll notice in America someone takes offense to EVERYTHING. You’ll also notice lawyers advertise their services relentlessly in case you’ve been offended, or injured, but don’t know it.

  15. boomchakaboom says:

    Actually, I’ve done the same thing as Jonas in an effort to OPEN my eyes, back in my days of youthful foibles. Just saying..

  16. geronimo says:

    Ditto, Aleksa. And since no one knows the context re this pic, seems a bit ridiculous, not to mention premature, to be condemning him.

  17. lynxie says:

    Wow dudes just wow.

  18. JoAnn says:

    What I hate is that people seem to think the scandal is on making the face in the first place. Kids are stupid, these kids in particular. I was more offended by Miley Cyrus by her very, very, very stupid response to the criticism over her very, very, very stupid action in the first place. (Okay, and knowing that I have a lot of young Asian relatives who are fans of them didn’t help either.)

  19. Annie says:

    Umm. Comparing a white t-shirt to making facial expressions based on something I can’t control, is NOT the same fu**ing thing.

    These eyes I’ve got? I can’t exactly return them at a TJ Maxx.

    I think the major gaff on Cyrus’s part was the non-apology she issued right after.

    As for Mr. Jonas, he’s a f**king idiot.

  20. Annie says:

    BTW. Don’t ever, and I mean, EVER call me Oriental.

    I’m not a goddamn rug.

  21. Adum says:

    IT DOESN’T MATTER WHEN HE DID IT!!

    Before or after Miley, he still did something insulting. Just because you aren’t famous when you do something insensitive doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be held accountable.

    I’m sorry but he better get as much crap as Miley did.

  22. Kelly says:

    He needs to apoligize if it is him & if its not then issue a statement lie you said CB but i just had to point out he isnt by himself someone cropped it theres a hand next to him

  23. Hieronymus Grex says:

    I miss the America I remember where not everyone was a spineless sissy who took offense at every stupid thing some rich brat did in front of a camera and laughed it off.

  24. Z says:

    Anon, exactly what I was thinking…maybe he was making fun of Miley. And if that’s the case, he’s stupid, not necessarily racist (although it wouldn’t surprise me if he was that, too).

    I’m no Joe Jonas fan by the way. If you couldn’t tell.

    About KKK, maybe if someone had a white t-shirt over their face, with holes cut for the eyes and pointed at the top of their head. Otherwise, nah.

  25. Mme X says:

    is it possible he’s just mimicking Miley?

  26. Kristina says:

    Dude this happened like 3 years ago when he had the johawk for christ sakes, he probably didnt realise what he was doing, you know its called having a laugh and everyone pulls faces!

    get over it!

  27. WW says:

    To Aleksa,
    “I have oriental friends , and they would not take offence to this at all! “. Why don’t you go to your oriental friends and pull this face in front of them??
    I am oriental and I do take offence to mindless actions like this. For non-oriental people to state that asians wouldn’t mind this at all, is ridiculous – you have no idea what it is like to be discrimated or continually mocked by these morons in the public eye or even on the street.
    How I look is not something I can control and nor is it something for other people to make fun of or be made to feel ashamed about.
    Whether they are famous or not, nobody should get away with this. I hope that this guy gets completely blasted for this. He is 19 and deserves to take responsibility for his actions.

  28. plk says:

    joe hasnt had hair like this in over two years.

  29. Aleksa says:

    To WW: I think people are just oversensitive, and they need to be a bit more thick-skinned and grown-up about all this. I grew up in Spain, but my heritage is Algerian. I had a lot of people trying to hurt me for this and make fun of me. But I never took offence because it´s what I am and accept and embrace, so to me, it would be no different than making fun of someone because he´s white; it´s stupid. It´s just a fact. If you are ok with who you are, what ignorant people say should not matter.

  30. emsie says:

    ok i would like to take this opportunity to say how completely ridiculous this is!!!!! yes this is joe jonas but firstly this is an OLD picture from the beginning of the jonas brothers careerer from like 3 years ago! secondly joe jonas is a kind and caring guy who has a HUGE heart and would NEVER do anything to offend anyone or take the mickey out of anyone on purpose and thirdly the jonas brothers are ALL strong Christians and strongly believe in the Christian believes and the ways of the bible and they follow them! the jonas family also have a close friends who are from other countries i and they LOVE them like they are part of the family………. all this ‘do the right thing business’ is getting WAY out of hand! yes its nice to know people want to look after and care for each other but there are right and wrong ways of doing that!! people have pulled their eyes in poses and songs for YEARS!! i don’t mean it offensive but look at the rhyme….. Chinese, Japanese, what are these? dirty knees………. think of the actions that you used to do with that rhyme as a kid……….. does that make YOU racist????? NO it does not! all it means is that you were having fun with your friends………… if joe and miley had of openly said or shouted a racist comment or shouted abuse then sure tell them of….. but this is just stupid!!! EVERY ONE does it or has done it!!!! ……… there have been nursery rhymes that have been sung for years and years that has been banned as they are apparently ‘racist’ ……… people try doing other countries accents……… is that going to be racist next?????!!! why don’t we start concentrating in the REAL issues in the world……. love not war, helping trying to save the environment, keeping the peace and enjoying life ENOUGH WITH THE RED TAPED WORLD AND LET PEOPLE BE THEM SELVES INSTEAD OF BEING TO SCARED TO MOVE!!!!!

    I LOVE YOU GUYS YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!! XXXXX

  31. b. says:

    …I mean, what the hell should people of color expect from a white boy who wears a purity ring and is in a tween band with his brothers?

  32. Liana says:

    um this is ages ago
    look at his hair style
    its not like that anymore?
    is it?

  33. gyanu lama says:

    i dont know you were mocking asians on the photo or not but if u were, you r stupid,inhuman,rude,khatte,naak chuche,white demon.you have no heart. even your apology wont work unless u dont realise your mistake.dont u know aishwarya,dong hae,GYANU are ASIANS.
    but if your intension was not wrong,god bless u & we all asians love u

  34. I think this is stupid! says:

    So all asians and other races can go around calling us ‘Whites’ but were not even aloud to pull a stupid face infront of a camera. i think its pathetic because next you know if we even smile on camera, they’ll be saying were mocking clowns. :/

  35. Alexagal1 says:

    ok, #1, suck it up, okay. Ppl make faces with their eyes, get it straight. I slant my eyes all the time, and im not against asians or anthing, u ppl are soooooo stupid sometimes, and u fall for everything that goes out! Forget about it!! There’s more important things in this world than worrying about what celebrities do with their eyes, gosh. Give him and Miley a break.

  36. Jessica says:

    I think this whole “Miley being racist” thing is just ridiculous. I see people doing that slanted eyes thing all the time, and do they get sued for billions of dollars? No. At first, I thought they were suing her because she was setting a bad example, but then I realized that they just want her money. I never even SAW the photo of her until the scandal started…they should have just accepted her apology and MOVED ON.

    And this picture is older, maybe around when Joe was 16, and now he’s 19, so he is NOT dumb, or even racist.

    Whoever wrote this article is an idiot.

  37. lala says:

    Joe is my age.

    He should get himself a slice of ed-u-ca-tion if that racist redneck can even fucking spell that.

  38. lala says:

    How would YOU white people feel if we made pig noses and drew ugly dots and hairs on our faces and released it to the world to see and laugh at????!!!

  39. anonymous says:

    people, this picture is 5 years old, before they were famous. who cares???? he’s not making fun of asian people, and how do you know he’s not rubbing his eyes or something? get a life and stop picking on people you don’t know

  40. sena says:

    ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

  41. witty19 says:

    oh,he should take a look on his big,large oversized nose and his caveman eyebrows

    its really ashamed (about racist and prejudice?) its typical of u americans who always make fun of other races especially black,asian including latino.