Margaret Cho ripped MAGA Superman Dean Cain for becoming ICE Barbie’s sidekick in a new recruitment video for the DHS, telling him pointedly, “You’ll never be white.”
“Why would you join ICE and encourage people to join ICE when your ancestors were interned in World War II?” Cho asked in a video posted to her Instagram account with the text “Why would you join #ICE #dumb” written across it.
“You’re Japanese,” she continued, “You’re not even white… I know you, and you are not white.”
Cain, who is half Japanese on his father’s side, was born Dean Tanaka, and has insisted he has no shame about his heritage. “Tanaka is my given name, and it’s funny that people are like, ‘Well, you tried to hide that.’ It’s tattooed on my ankle,” he told Variety last week. “My family was interned in the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. That was a horrible injustice, but I don’t think that I deserve any sort of reparations,” he added.
The 1990s Lois & Clark star and ardent MAGA supporter posted a video to social media this week encouraging Americans to join ICE and help arrest “hundreds of thousands of criminals, including terrorists, rapists, murderers, pedophiles, MS-13 gang members, drug traffickers, you name it—very dangerous people.” Data from TRAC revealed that about seven of every 10 migrants detained by ICE, as of July 27, don’t have a criminal record in the U.S., however.
Still, Cain drew on his law enforcement background to help beef up recruitment numbers for the agency for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“For those who don’t know, I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, and I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it.” Cain also revealed that he will be sworn in as an “honorary” ICE agent.
Cho, who is Korean-American, rose to fame from her stand-up and subsequent casting in 1994’s All American Girl, the first network sitcom to center a Asian-American family. Her show premiered in 1994 and aired on ABC at the same time as Cain’s Lois & Clark. She returned to stand-up after her show’s short-lived run.
She called Cain a “dumba–” for joining the efforts as she highlighted ICE’s role in detaining and deporting mostly non-white people from the country under Trump’s policies.
Cain has been unapologetic about his support of the president, however, as a regular face on Fox News and booster of MAGA’s “anti-woke” ideals. He spoke out against James Gunn’s new iteration of Superman before he’d even see the film, blasting the director for calling the superhero an “immigrant,” since he believes the comment alienates supporters of Trump’s mass deportations.
“You’re never gonna be white, no matter how many of these white activities that you participate in,” Cho added in her video. “No matter how racist you are… Always Wong, never white.”
For more, listen to Margaret Cho on The Last Laugh podcast.
