'How I Met Your Mother’ Season 9 Recap: HIMYM Apologize for Racist Episode

A Kung Fu-themed episode of "How I Met Your Mother" drew the ire of netizens. CNN reports that the latest episode from HIMYM's ninth episode revolved around the show's long-running slap-bet gag between characters Michael Eriksen and Barney Stinson.

Michael, played by Jason Segel explains to Neil Patrick Harris' character Barney how he was trained by three masters of kung fu in delivering the most legendary slap.

Of course, those "three masters" he referred to was their three other friends, hopeless romantic Ted Mosby, former Canadian teen pop star Robin Scherbatsky, and childlike yet fierce Lily Aldrin.

At first, this seemed like a hilarious set-up for the episode until the masters came on-screen.

Keeping up with the theme, Mosby, Scherbatsky, and Aldrin, all played by white actors by the way, were dressed in stereotypical traditional Asian attire, had their faces painted yellow, and even sported a moustache popularized by Dr. Fu Manchu.  

Needless to say, this caused viewers to rush to their Twitter accounts to post their reactions. The backlash even created the hashtag "#HowIMetYourRacism".

In NY Daily News' article, one viewer tweeted, "Yellowface? Orientalism? Fu Manchu? What? Not okay @cbs." Another offended fan of the show also posted, "I'm not surprised about #howimetyourracism and #yellowface on @CBS. The network's named warned us that we'll see BS."

In an attempt to do some damage-control, HIMYM co-creator Carter Bays went online to respond to the people's reactions. His tweets, which were posted on Entertainment Weekly, read, "With Monday's episode, we set out to make a silly and unabashedly immature homage to Kung Fu movies, a genre we've always loved."

This was followed by "But along the way we offended people. We're deeply sorry, and we're grateful to everyone who spoke up to make us aware of it," and "We try to make a show that's universal, that anyone can watch and enjoy. We fell short of that this week, and feel terrible about it."

Bays then ended his response by tweeting, "To everyone we offended, I hope we can regain your friendship, and end this season on a note of goodwill. Thanks. @CarterBays @himymCraig."

If you missed the episode, here's a clip posted by CNN on Youtube.