A biography for Eugene Lee Yanghasn’t been written yet.
“I've always presented as a very cisgender male and that was part of the reason I was able to cover so easily... I was always in such a strictly binary environment growing up. I was never given an opportunity to sort of play into more genderqueer fashion.”
“Content isn't just a brand or message that you develop yourself and then throw out into the echo chamber. It's a mirror.”
“As a small kid from Texas, I just imagined that Hollywood was this world that was really foreign and far away and I didn't see many Asians on screen, so I had no idea that I could even be a part of it.”
“Some people just yell 'Asian BuzzFeed guy!' and I turn around and distinctly yell back 'Eugene!'”
“Growing up in Texas, I was already dealing with the fact that I didn't even know I was Asian until a certain age. I just was informed about it in a somewhat negative way by my peers. And that immediately put me into that mindset where I felt very othered. My safety always felt like it wasn't something that I could consider a given.”
“My job is literally clapping back every day online as a comedian.”
“There's a reason we all cried when Gina Rodriguez won that Golden Globe. It didn't matter if we're Latina. We get it. We're just like, 'Thank you! Finally, a more accurate reflection of diversity!'”
“I know many YouTubers who are these amazing LGBTQ icons for young people, but many of them have not come out publicly, even though they're well-known online.”
“I always assumed that my otherness was a curse - that I would be held back by my Asian and queer identities.”
“The coming out video was not just for the masses, but also for many people in my family.”
“For some people of color, for some people with conservative or religious backgrounds, you know, we're constantly sort of looking over our shoulder.”