An episode of CBC’s “Dragons’ Den” aired with actor Simu Liu as a guest dragon on Oct. 10.
In this show, aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their concepts and products to a group of ‘dragons,’ business moguls who can give them the money they need to make it happen.
In this episode, bottled bubble tea company Bobba was seeking one million dollars for an 18% stake in their company. In their opening, the founders seemed to unintentionally play into harmful stereotypes with the idea that “you are never quite sure about its content,” in reference to traditional bubble tea.
When Liu brought up the concern that the founders seemed to capitalize on the idea of cultural appropriation and erase the Asian identity and origins from their product, the speakers continued with, “It’s not an ethnical product anymore.”
However, they also stated they do have partners in Taiwan that manufacture their boba, which is the ‘cultural part’ of their product.
The other dragons joked about Liu starting off “a little heavy.” Upon receiving multiple offers from three different dragons, the company ended up accepting Manjit Minhas’ offer, which was their original asking amount and stake.
After the episode’s release, as backlash towards the company skyrocketed, Liu came forward and posted a TikTok regarding the situation.
In his video, he stated that while he believes criticism and vocal disagreements against the company are valid, he asked that everyone know where the line is and that the harassment and death threats the company has been receiving as a result are unacceptable.
Some people criticized Liu, expressing that you don’t need to be from a certain culture in order to produce a product.
He clarified, “I think we hit on a really important discussion about cultural appropriation, what is it, um, how is something exploitative rather than kind of paying homage and paying respect?”
Liu shared that the dragons did hear more of his perspective off camera.
The brand posted an apology about the episode on Instagram, stating their choice of words were misguided and that they understand people’s reactions.
They put fault on language, which many argued does not excuse their choice of words or the insensitivity behind their actions. They also stated they are reevaluating branding and marketing.
Minhas, after receiving criticism for her decision to still invest regardless of Liu’s remarks, ended up sharing via Instagram that she was pulling her investment three days after the episode’s release.
