Caption controversy: Public Record adds Asian slurs to photo

JIMMY TAYOUN, publisher of the Philadelphia Public Record, tried Friday to shrug off as "just a mistake" a string of racial slurs that appeared in a photo caption in Thursday's weekly edition.

Tayoun was singing a different tune yesterday, saying he had fired the employee responsible for adding the slurs to the caption.

Tayoun also retracted a claim he made Friday that a freelance photographer who took the photo came up with the "nicknames" - "Me Too, Chinky Winky and Dinky Doo" - for a group attending a fundraiser in Chinatown for City Councilman Mark Squilla.

Tayoun, in an email, said he spoke in "haste the other day about the deplorable error" when he blamed the photographer.

Tayoun's turnaround happened after Philadelphia magazine published on its website Friday evening a story about the slurs. That circulated through social media over the weekend.

Squilla posted the story on his Facebook page Friday, calling the slurs "insensitive and disrespectful," demanding an apology.

"This is wrong any way you look at it," Squilla's post said, "and I have demanded strict disciplinary action [be] taken against whomever was responsible for this intolerable action."

Tayoun yesterday declined to identify the now-fired staffer who wrote the caption or say what that person's job title was.

"We don't want to add fuel to the fire," Tayoun said.

The Asian American Journalists Association yesterday issued a statement, announcing the group was "disappointed that editors at the Philadelphia Public Record would stoop to using ethnic slurs and tired caricatures of Asian-sounding names."

The group said it accepted an apology issued by Tayoun and was "heartened by his taking personal responsibility."

That apology, posted Sunday on the Public Record's website, said: "An offensive slur was accidentally published in Thursday's edition."

The apology goes on to say: "This shocking lapse of professional conduct occurred contrary to our editorial directives and in no way reflects the views of our staff or our organization."

Tayoun says another apology will appear in Thursday's paper.

The photo caption that prompted the controversy says Squilla was "enjoying Asian-American cuisine" with seven people, with names provided for four of them.

Tayoun, a former City Council member and state legislator who served time in federal prison on public corruption charges, said he called Squilla last week to alert him about the photo caption.

The Public Record, which has published since 1999, sells much of its print advertising space to would-be politicians, elected officials and labor unions.