Comedian Aziz Ansari called out the Republican railroad commissioner nominee in a stand-up clip posted on Instagram, joking about the backlash that started after French shared a photo of South Asian students celebrating a Texas Longhorns football win and suggested Americans and Texas’ student body had been “displaced by foreigners.”
As if French’s comments making national headlines was not enough, Ansari turned the tables by addressing the brown elephant in the room.
“If your idea of America is that it’s just white people speaking English, that ship has sailed so far,” Ansari told the crowd. “Who’s gonna deport those Indian dudes, the Indian guy that runs the FBI?”
Ansari also pointed to how much pop culture has already changed.
“Bad Bunny is selling out stadiums, every kid is watching K-Pop Demon Hunters,” Ansari said.
Then came the ultimate punchline and reality check.
“And even if they somehow achieve their dream, let’s say everything they wanted comes true and they deported all the minorities…you guys would miss us,” Ansari said. “I just imagine two white dudes walking through an empty Chinatown just like, ‘so what are we gonna do with all them ducks?'”
French, the Republican nominee for Texas railroad commissioner, sparked backlash after posting a photo of South Asian UT students celebrating the Longhorns’ win over Ohio State. In the post, French wrote, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
French’s comments triggered a wider fight inside the Texas GOP over race, immigration and who belongs in the party. The Republican nominee has since doubled down on his comments as part of a broader argument about immigration and university admissions.