A person assumes a fake ethnic identity in order to advance their career. If you guessed this person to be Elizabeth Warren passing herself off as an Indian to be hired as a minority on the Harvard faculty, you would be right. However, you would also be right if you guessed the person to be the new Marvel comics editor-in-chief, C.B. Cebulski, who years ago pretended to be Japanese in order to advance his career every bit as much as Warren did.
This latest bit of career motivated ethnic pretense was reported on Tuesday by the Huffington Post in Marvel’s New Editor-In-Chief Is A White Guy Who Pretended To Be An Asian Writer:
Marvel’s new editor-in-chief, C.B. Cebulski, admitted Tuesday to once writing comics under a Japanese pseudonym.
Cebulski, who is white, said he wrote under the pen name Akira Yoshida back in the early 2000s, Bleeding Cool first reported. The outlet suggested he might’ve used the name to get around a Marvel policy at the time that barred staffers from writing comic books.
Here's more:
His admission appears to have been prompted by a wave of discussion following a tweet from Image Comics brand manager Dave Brothers.
Hey comics journo friends: we should definitely be asking Marvel and new EiC CB Cebulski on why he chose to use the pen name Akira Yoshida in the early 2000s to write a bunch of "Japanese-y" books for them. https://t.co/jXGKZdmyD4
— pshaw brothers (@hermanos) November 27, 2017
Elizabeth Warren has a ready made pen name if she wants to write Indian books:
“I stopped writing under the pseudonym Akira Yoshida after about a year,” Cebulski, who was announced as Axel Alonso’s successor in November and took over the reins at Marvel this week, said in a statement. “It wasn’t transparent, but it taught me a lot about writing, communication and pressure. I was young and naïve and had a lot to learn back then.” Cebulski called the issue “all old news that has been dealt with” and added that he was looking forward to his new position.
Much like Warren pretty much ditched the Indian shtick after she was safely ensconced on the high paying Harvard faculty.
When I first read this story, I missed that CB Cebulski adopted the pseudonym Akira Yoshida to write super appropriative Orientalist comic stories. Seriously? Not just real-life yellowface but total cultural appropriation for money too? Screw this guy. https://t.co/LqOmq0fLFs
— Reappropriate (@reappropriate) November 29, 2017
Just change around a few words in the above tweet and it could also apply to a certain perpetually outraged senator:
Cebulski’s use of an Asian-sounding pseudonym is drawing ire as another example of white creators adopting an identity from marginalized groups for their benefit.
Perhaps a high-cheekboned senator from Massachusetts could introduce a bill to prohibit this ethnic appropriation for profit.
Exit question: Can Cebulski get the heat off him by inducing an attack by President Trump calling him "Akira Yoshida" so the mainstream media will completely overlook the fact that he faked an ethnic identity as they call Trump a racist?
