Rainn Wilson revealed in an interview that, in his opinion, one of the episodes of “The Office” is “surprisingly offensive.”
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During his appearance on the “The Last Laugh” podcast from “The Daily Beast“, the actor spoke candidly about the hit NBC series, which aired from 2005 to 2013.
Wilson, who played the eccentric Dwight Schrute throughout the show’s 9 seasons, admitted that some scenes in “The Office” were truly awkward for him, but that one particular episode went even further.
“Listen, you know, the episode A Benihana Christmas, where Michael (Steve Carell) and Andy (Ed Helms) draw with a pen on one of the Asian women they bring to the Christmas party, is jaw-dropping – kind of horrible,” Wilson said.
“And it’s a complicated conversation. It’s like they have no awareness, and in that lack of awareness, they are racist and insensitive, and they’re always saying the wrong thing. And those are Michael, Dwight, Andy, and Kevin (Brian Baumgartner). So, it’s a series centered on clueless, insensitive, racist, and sexist people who kind of mirror the United States in many ways,” he added.
In the episode Wilson mentioned, manager Michael Scott is upset about a breakup, and some Dunder Mifflin colleagues take him out for a boys’ night, but he ends up returning to the office with two waitresses.
Michael is so drunk that he can’t tell the two Asian women apart, so he marks his date to be able to identify her.
“You want to encourage it, because it’s hilarious and also kind of pokes at a specific American sensitivity. But if you dig deeper, it definitely goes far,” the actor explained.
“Could that happen today? I think it would have to be very, very different if it were made in today’s environment,” he concluded.
Images: NBC. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
