“In the next few years, we’re going to see a lot more diversity in terms of what we mean by A.A.P.I.,” said Jeremiah Abraham, a co-producer of “Yellow Rose” who runs a marketing and communications agency specializing in Asian American projects. “There is more talent out there than we are giving access and opportunities to.”
“Beef” chronicles a feud between Amy, an affluent entrepreneur feeling pressure to sell her small business, and Danny, a struggling contractor who cannot seem to catch a break. The series puts anger on full display, but it manifests differently for the two tormentors. Amy, who married into art-world money, must smile through various indignities. Danny, weighed down by the responsibility he feels for his younger brother, Paul (Young Mazino), and his ex-convict cousin, weasels his way into Amy’s home and urinates across her bathroom.
As Amy and Danny’s quests for revenge entangle loved ones, the series also gives viewers a close look at the churchgoing Korean community in Southern California and presents multiple versions of masculinity for its Asian American characters.
Joseph Lee, who plays Amy’s lonely, validation-hungry husband, George, said he saw “vulnerability and insecurity” in his character. Mazino said Paul looks at the toxic masculinity of his brother and cousin and tries to forge a different path. “There’s no one example that represents all of that,” Lee said.
(“Beef” was itself the target of considerable anger this year when a 2014 podcast episode resurfaced in which David Choe, who plays the cousin, spoke of coercing a masseuse into oral sex. He later said the story was made up. But amid the uproar over the revelations, some viewers, including many Asian Americans, grappled with whether to support the show.)
Actors said that working on projects like “Beef” that feature all-Asian casts has allowed race to recede into the background, and for nuanced characters like George and Paul to take the spotlight.