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An awful relic from less enlightened times, or a sign that the attitudes from those times have not gone away completely. Comic relief characters in the Small Annoying Creature or The Scrappy mold whose strangeness in appearance and behavior is put down to their being of a different race or ethnicity to the heroes. Often highlighted by their being extreme gonks in an otherwise normal cast.
Fortunately this is now a truly Discredited Trope, fit only for Lampshading. It is, however, still sometimes used straight in foreign countries (see picture), usually due more to ignorance than malice. Of course in modern remakes, the racism will be entirely removed, as will the comic relief nature.
See Also: Uncle Tomfoolery, But Not Too Foreign
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Mr. Popo the servant/slave of God from Dragonball has an infamous and distinct look from the other characters, but is usually not considered a black stereotype. For one, he doesn't resemble any other darkskinned characters, and he's also pretty obviously supposed to be a genie.
- There was also Captain Black.
- ...who is, well, black, but isn't particularly outlandish. He's a pretty normal, rational guy compared to, say, Commander Red.
- Chada from NieA_7 at first appears to be a walking, talking stereotype of an Indian convenience store owner, complete with broken English. However, he's actually an alien who adopted this stereotype as his appearance and identity.
- Killerbee from the Naruto manga comes off as an Ethnic Scrappy born out of cultural ignorance. He is apparently a painfully stereotypical anime black man who raps nearly everything he says.
- However, it should be noted that this doesn't stop him from outwitting both Hawk and the Akatsuki with what can only be described as sheer brilliance, so he's much more capable than most examples. It helps that he handed Sasuke his ass on a silver platter too.
- There's also the fact that the manga introduced four other (largely normal) black characters a couple chapters after him (Jei, Omoi, Karui, and the Raikage).
- The Raikage is far from normal what with him jumping out of windows or through walls when there are doors, of course the fans love him
- To be fair, he did think that the kid killed his brother. When he found out that was false and calmed down, he proved to be a very reasonable man. So much so that he was made head of the new Ninja Alliance. Besides, anybody who can humble Sasuke on-screen is bound to get fans.
- Plus, this troper thought it was obvious that Killerbee wasn't so much as a caricature of black stereotypes so much as a Captain Ersatz of Muhammad Ali and Hulk Hogan.
- Killerbee may have been a Captain for Ali sure... but this troper totally missed the Hogan connection and found his "rapping" to be slightly off-putting, especially in the original Japanese (where fansubs try to clean up Kishimoto's engrish to little avail).
- Hey the Rapping is meant to suck, Killerbee actually admits to that much. Now he's on to Enka, so Rapping was just a phase...soyeah
- Thank you above comment. I mean damn. It's like non-black people are so focused on trying to be politically correct that they fail to realize their being as ignorant as the people they think are. I'm black, and I like rap. So I think it's funny and I think the Bee's Crazy Awesome and not an Ethnic Scrappy. He's a Shout Out to the Wu Tang Clan (who themselves are diehard anime fans) with a bit of intentional Stylistic Suck.
Comic Books
- Chop-Chop from Blackhawk. All the Caucasian characters are tall and good-looking. The Chinese is three feet tall, as wide as he is high with lemon-yellow skin, teeth like a radiator grille, tiny, slitted eyes behind milk-bottle glasses and a silly accent. They all wore uniforms and caps, he wears a multi-coloured Qing dynasty outfit and a ribbon in his pigtail.
- The later issues, however, as early as the Silver Age, made him look like a normal Chinese guy, took away his stupid accent, and gave him a uniform.
- Deconstruction: Howard Chaykin's 1988 reworking of Blackhawk, which even gave him a real name, showed him to be insulted and angered by his team-mates' use of the derogatory nick-name. In fact, the miniseries doesn't shy away from depicting any of the racism and sexism of the World War II era.
- More modern Hawkman issues (nineties) show the character as a successful businessman. If this troper recalls correctly, his 'past' was retconned to be a couple of pointless jokes and he was always a valued member of the team. Of course, since this was a Hawkman comic, the continuity of such is in doubt.
- Ebony White
 in The Spirit. Yes, he got better lines and a more serious role as the story went on, but to have a comedy black character half the white guy's height with big, red, rubber lips and huge, wide staring eyes was not the finest idea in Will Eisner's great career as a cartoonist. This was so common among Golden Age heroes that Ebony is probably the least racist example.
- Not quite; Lothar is probably the least racist example from that period, despite his "African Prince" origin.
- Eisner discusses this problem, and his reaction to it, in the introduction to Fagin the Jew, the comic he made to vindicate the character of Fagin in Oliver Twist.
- The 2007 Darwyn Cooke version makes him into a street-smart kid, with the added precaution of excising Jive Turkey.
- Also, he... um, drives a cab.
- Although the cab thing is handled pretty well, in that he is shown to be clever enough to make a living as an unlicensed cabbie with a Taxi his dead uncle left him, despite being only 14. Spirit employs him as his driver since both of them are officially "outside the law," and because of Ebony's excellent survival instincts.
- They also invert Ebony's role from the original strips; whereas before he was a comedy relief goon much of the time, in this version, he's the deadpan snarker who is always ready with some much-needed sarcasm whenever Spirit's ego is in danger of getting too big.
- Wait, wait, so a 14-year-old whom...well, let's go through the list... The fact he's alive is the sole evidence we have that his parents ever existed; when we get to see what he does when not being the Side Kick or driving a cab, it turns out that he's the leader (and the Token Minority) of a band of mixed group of Street Urchins. Of the bunch, he's probably the most savvy of them and best educated, but this troper would like to point out that the truant officer is not even trying to earn his paycheck. Assuming there is one, that is...you know what? He's pretty smart, given what he has to work with.
- The Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan had an Inuit sidekick called Pieface who served as his mechanic. Today, he is strictly called Tom Kalmaku and depicted with respect as an engineer.
- In a recent retelling of Hal's origin, the "Pieface" nickname is used by a Jerkass rival pilot.
- Tom gets his in Justice League The New Frontier, Darwyn Cooke's (there he is again!) reimagining of the dawn of DC's Silver Age. Hal Jordan calls him Pieface when they first meet. Tom responds by calling Hal "whitebread" and threatening him with a wrench, and that's the last time Hal uses that nickname.
- The Africans in Tintin in the Congo are better left unmentioned. However, the later Blue Lotus was written with input by a real Chinese, and worked hard to remove some of the Yellow Peril stereotypes. This did not, however, apply to the Japanese villains were mostly depicted as disgusting racist mockeries with protruding teeth and thick glasses.
- This editor points out that the stereotyping of the Japanese was most likely due to the anti-Japanese colonialism theme that was a part of the storyline.
- Herge expressed great regret later on for the racism in his early work and actually requested Tintin in the Congo not be republished. The last few Tintin adventures are still prone to Ethnic Scrappy, but tend to have fairly realistic minor characters.
- Has anyone seen the token black kid in the old Young Allies comics? Go to superdickery.com and click on any of the pictures where the Allies are mentioned. Exactly. And they gave him the incredibly PC name of Whitewash. I wish I could be making this up but I'm not.
- Of course in a recent comic where the new Captain America (Bucky) reunited with his old friends they fix that and don't even use the nickname. He was also shown to be highly inteligent.
- And just a reminder that at that time, having a black kid in a relatively equal role in a mostly-white group was a step up.
- Grant Morrison during his tenure writing X Men created Angel Salvadore, as some sort of vaguely Latina, foul-mouthed 14 year-old who was kicked out of her house by her step-father when her mutant powers developed. Some Unfortunate Implications come into play when Angel later becomes pregnant and suddenly has half-a-dozen children. .
Film
Live Action TV
- Anyone remember Hop Sing, the Chinese cook on the old television show Bonanza?
- To be fair, the Hop Sing characterization had Values Dissonance. Bonanza was set in the 19th century and the depiction of the Chinese people on the show was not entirely inaccurate for that time period.
- In the TV show Sliders, Rembrandt Brown started out with at least one foot in this territory, but fortunately the character displayed drastic improvement as the series progressed.
- Julio Fuentes from Sanford and Son. The man OWNED A GOAT, for Pete's sake. Not to mention his unrelenting pleasantness in the face of Fred's unrelenting racism which may have been intended as a type of Stealth Insult ala Lionel Jefferson but it really came off...badly.
Literature
Newspaper Comics
- Connie (George Webster Confucius), the Chinese comic relief character, from the Terry And The Pirates comic strip.
Professional Wrestling
- Any pro-wrestler not from the USA or Canada. Continues to this day - see Umaga, for example.
- The Japanese are particularly susceptible - Tajiri, Mr. Fuji, and Kenzo/Hiroko Suzuki in the WWE/WWF stick out in this regard.
- Subverted or averted by Ring Of Honor and other independent promotions that have working relationships (often strong) Japanese pro wrestlers and their home promotions.
- Despite some occasional slips on this mark, TNA's Samoa Joe actually exists to subvert this trope, being a perfectly normal, in fact exceptionally skilled, wrestler.
- Of course, the aforementioned Umaga seems to have been created as a Take That for Joe, as though to say, "This is how Samoans act in wrestling." Some of us are still not pleased.
- As of late, Samoa Joe seems to have embraced being a 'wrestling Samoan' in that he has his face all painted in Maori tattoos and threatens opponents with a 'tribal knife.'
- Shockingly, Manu, a recently debuted Samoan wrestler in WWE, speaks plain English and does not appear to have any "native" leanings. Then again, they also recently debuted R-Truth, a black ex-con who now raps and dances his way to the ring... so...
- I just thought I'd point out the ancestry of the wrestler-turned-actor formerly known as "The Rock". Although the fact that his real name is Dwayne Johnson and that he is only half-Samoan might temper this a bit. On the flip side (while this troper makes no claims to following pro wrestling) wasn't he a Heel for most of his career? Also: he was originally introduced as Rocky Maivia.
- True, but he was introduced as a pretty-boy Face. The Heel part came when the fans didn't react to the promotion and the execs dumped him in the Ethnic Scrappy boiling pot known as The Nation. He's one of the few superstars who worked his way out of a racial angle and made it on a reputation of skill alone.
- Booker T was an ex-con who does spinnaroonies would have fit this trope long before R-Truth. Rikishi being a Samoan who spoke plain English and acted pretty normal was in the WWE before Umaga or the fact Samoa IS part of the USA. Most people don't acknowledge Samoa Joe started out in UPW, a former WWE development league and current talent scout for the company.
- Even if in some people's eyes Yoshiro Tajiri fits the "ethnic stereotype" it was justified in that he came straight from Japan and spoke little English for a long time. Tajiri can just as easily get the fans on his side as he can be a scrappy and is regarded by most the be an exceptional wrestler-not someone to compare to Mr. Fuji. Many also consider Umaga a good wrestler as he can pull off impressive maneuvers for his size.
- WWE isn't the only place to use ethnic scrappies either. TNA's new American hating Sheik comes to mind, but in wrestling its to be expected, as many wrestlers make their whole careers off of being hated.
- You Mean Daivari? At least in TNA they make it believable and mention that he was born in the US and didn't go to the extreme WWE went with Hassan (Who wasn't even Arab).
- Jimmie Wang Yang is a notable aversion of this trope.
- Not really since he's playing with redneck stereotypes.
- There are a few inversions of this too such as Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle and "The All American American" Jack Swagger.
Tabletop Games
- The unspeakably awful Tabletop Games FATAL had actual, equippable items which literally turned the wearer into Ethnic Scrappies - of Jews, black people, Asians and Greeks. The RPG was not played for laughs, and would probably have been even more offensive if it had been. Particularly offensive sample:
50. Nigrous Nincompoopery, of: Whosoever dons this armor experiences a loss of 1d100 points from each sub-ability of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. The ass of the wearer will grow by 50% and be abnormally high. If the wearer is male, then those around him are 80% likely to believe that his manhood has increased, though it has not. The skin of the wearer becomes cursed and dark as night. Disposition turns to Unethical Immoral. Temperament becomes phlegmatic. The eyes of the wearer are visible 3 miles away at night. The wearer will have a body odor for 1d10 feet. On the bright side, the Physical Fitness of the wearer increases by 10%. The armor may be removed at will.
Theater
- The song "Spanish Rose" in Bye Bye Birdie shows in a single musical number how to make an Ethnic Scrappy out of a character who isn't even supposed to be Spanish aside from her last name. This song might not have been written if Chita Rivera hadn't been the victim of typecasting.
- This is also a rare case of a character deliberately invoking this trope. Having endured a litany of racist remarks from her prospective mother-in-law for most of the play, Rosie declares her intention to get revenge by acting "so Spanish eet will make you seeck."
Video Games
- Wham Bam Rock, the boss of the Great Cave Offensive (ironically) in Kirby Super Star, is made up entirely of a leafy crown, huge round disembodied eyes, huge red disembodied rubber lips, and disembodied stone hands he beats you around with. They got their act together for the DS Video Game Remake (where Wham Bam now resembles a clay totem) - well, partially. The "king of all the Wham Bams", Wham Bam Jewel, has both basic Ethnic Scrappy characteristics (huge staring eyes and rubber lips).
- While Wham Bam Jewel does look a bit like the old Wham Bam Rock, he also has tusks and a third eye, indicating he might be some type of non-human instead of a silly stereotype.
- Touhou Project, to my dismay, seems to have one of those with Hong "China" Meiling. She's a Chinese-like youkai. And she's a terrible gatekeeper, lazy, rather weak compared to other characters, abused by her boss, etc. Fortunately, other similar characters abound in Touhou (Reisen, Komachi to a lesser extent...) without the ethnic stereotypes.
Western Animation
- Jonny Quest has Hadji. The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest greatly updated the character; however, he retained essential aspects of the Ethnic Scrappy- ridiculous accent despite years of living in the US, "ethnic" attire no modern Indian man would wear, and magical powers.
- To be fair, they tried to avoid Hadji having magical powers in the first season, instead having him use tricks like controlled breathing. During the second season, demands for the show to be more like the original put in some "latent" powers like spoon bending.
- Jonny Quest, the original series, is grindingly embarrassing at times due to this. Supposedly, the Zulus throwing spears at the Quest Jet in the closing credits were from an episode that never aired, but that image is crazy enough. The worst that DID air was probably one where the team were stranded on a ship when the Monster Of The Week smashed their plane. They find the only survivor of the ship's crew — a Chinese cook named Charlie who has a horrible accent, dresses stereotypically (how did they miss giving him a pigtail?), and continually references his "honorable ancestors". They are eventually spotted by DUTCH search parties from Batavia— despite Jakarta (and Indonesia) having been independent for years already. Oy...
- The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo had Flim-Flam. Despite being a parody of this character type, he was a worse Scrappy than Scrappy himself.
- In Defenders Of The Earth, Mandrake The Magician had an adopted Asian son named Kshin.
- Parodied on The Venture Brothers with Kano, a member of the original Team Venture, who "despite his racial handicap" is a skilled pilot, and powerful enough to crush a boulder, yet gentle enough... to crush a butterfly. Also, he communicates with origami.
- The Dick Tracy animated series from the '50s/'60s had "Joe Jitsu", an Asian kung-fu master/detective, and "Go-Go Gomez", a lazy Mexican who solved crimes from his hammock. Both were drawn just about as stereotypically as you might imagine. Gomez could move very fast, although he did so with lots of "Arriba! Arriba! Yeeha! Yeeha!" yells that turned him into a human Speedy Gonzales.
- Many early cartoon characters, which usually highlights interesting arguments between meme insensitivity and deliberate racism. Animation fans usually defend characters like Bosko, who was obviously a racial caricature of a sort, but isn't treated maliciously and is always the hero.
- The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show had "bumbling Hawaiian sidekick" Hula-Hula.
- He was a parody of Lou Costello in general appearance, speech, and actions, much like Plas' original comic book sidekick "Woozy" Winks.
- To be fair, he's introduced as being an extremely high-strung pharmaceuticals salesman who wondered which of his own pills might apply to his own constant ills, as well as fainting at the sight of blood, so it's probably more character-based than race-based. His own family is used as a foil against him on more than one occasion.
- Speedy Gonzales, like the Hachibi example, avoids this trope thanks to Crazy Awesome. He's fast, he's chivalrous, he's clever, and always gets the gringo. So why do people still not like his cartoons? It's because the other mice in the show piss people off, who all have their laziness and ignorance cranked Up To Eleven until the writers are sure you know they're Mexican.
- Need we mention his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez?
- No; while he is slow in the feet, he's not slow in la cabeza.
- Also, he pack a "GON."
- Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos: Dear GOD! Where to start? When the least offensive ethnic character on the show is a stereotypical Samurai named Kemo, you know you're in trouble. Others include Lard-ass Extreme Omnivore sumo wrestler Tabe and (shudder!) Too-Much.
- The Boondocks has two, Stinkmeaner and Uncle Ruckus. They're annoying and overly offensive.
- However, they are intended as parody, and are generally supposed to be considered unsympathetic.
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