Actor Simu Liu calls out Quebec entrepreneurs for cultural appropriation of Bobba Tea, threatens fans to steer clear of harassment

Last week, actor Simu Liu , known for his character on the Canadian TV show 'Fresh Off the Boat', ripped into two Quebec entrepreneurs who appeared on the Canadian version of ' Dragons' Den ' over the cultural appropriation of a traditionally Taiwanese drink called bubble tea . The entrepreneurs, Sébastien Fiset and Jess Frenette, pitched their company, Bobba , which sells bottled popping boba and alcoholic bubble tea. They claimed that their product "transforms" the traditional drink, which is better for you and also more convenient, and sought to raise $1 million for 18 percent equity in the company. That sparked a lively backlash online in response to their pitch-thousands of people declaring that they are commercializing what may be a culturally important drink without the proper respect for its origins.

In the episode, Liu-the visiting Dragon-commented that he was not comfortable with their plan. He was worried about "disturbing" the bubble tea because this beverage is firmly based in Asian culture. In his perspective, the entrepreneurs' boast of making it "better" may be seen as disrespect to its cultural roots. He said that taking a quintessentially Asian item and selling it without any regard for its cultural heritage is a problem.

The pitch, and Liu's response to it, went viral online. There were plenty of fans of Liu's criticism and attacked the entrepreneurs as well as a couple of the other Dragons for not getting serious about this issue, but still wanting to invest in the company. Fiset and Frenette's product, Bobba, contains alcoholic bubble tea and popping boba packets which they said were healthier renditions of the drink. However, popping boba is not a discovery recently made-it has been one of the popular toppings of bubble tea for years, making their innovation rather more convincing to others.

He criticized the entrepreneurs for not acknowledging its cultural origin from Taiwan. Simultaneously, he was against the brand name, "Bobba," which, in his opinion, is a play with words on "boba," the name of the drink without any reference to the Asian or Taiwanese origins.

Yet he cautioned, other Dragons seemed less concerned with the cultural aspect: investor Manjit Minhas justified the entrepreneurs by stating that new variations of old products were very much acceptable. Co-founders of Bobba said they consulted their partner based in Taiwan very closely and came up with the product, which they say is respectful to the cultural origins of the drink.

Post-incident, the online battle was very hot with many people justifying his positions. However, this appreciation went too far to an extent that it turned into harassment and death threats messages to the creators of Bobba. To this end, Liu created a TikTok video where he appealed for stopping all forms of harassment, emphasizing that bullying and threats are never "okay," even for an important issue like cultural appropriation. He stressed that people should not come to in order to hurt or provoke but to learn and be aware. Liu also disclosed that some of the Dragons on the show would often disregard his pitches on camera but, surprisingly, were willing to hear out his views when they're not on camera.

On Monday, the founders of Bobba issued an apology statement with regard to the harm their pitch may have caused. They acknowledged that Liu's concern about cultural appropriation was valid and vowed to further educate themselves on this subject so they can navigate cross-cultural business practices better in the future.

In his video, where he addressed past controversy in line with online exchanges and therefore desired dialogue respectfully, Liu urged his followers to discuss the issue of cultural appropriation, but not to threaten or traumatize others, especially entrepreneurs who would not understand the impact of cultural appropriation.

It is, in the final analysis, clear that Liu decided not to invest in Bobba, but the entrepreneurs opted for Minhas' offer of giving them the $1 million they had requested up-front in exchange for 18% of the company. The debate on cultural appropriation will continue, but the conversation at the end will hopefully be about how to educate and respect cultural heritage rather than hate to incite further hate.