Joan Rivers Quotes

We are never racist against somebody who is very far away. I don't know any racism against the Eskimos. To have a racist feeling, there must be an other who is slightly different from us - but is living close to us.

I've never watched an entire episode of 'American Idol'. It's too mean.

The reality show 'America's Next Top Model' is my girlie pleasure.

Since the time of Homer every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.

You know, 'Project Runway' was a really special show, and we had a great five seasons with it. We loved that show, and we loved the stories that it brought to Bravo and the creativity. And it was a magic five seasons.

I had no idea what I was gonna do after I got my degree in philosophy in 1940. But what I did know was at that time, if you were a Chinese-American, even department stores wouldn't hire you. They'd come right out and say, 'We don't hire Orientals.'

To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologise unreservedly.

Fashion breaks my heart.

I've never seen most of the fashion reality shows. The only one I've seen is 'Project Runway,' which is great, but I don't watch television.

The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European but an Asiatic and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese and, from what I’ve seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of a bitch, a barbarian, and a chronic drunk.

Latins are macho, they hate gringos and they hate gringos’ wives. What else do you want to know?

… an influential gang of Jews

I was born in this country. I serve this country every day in my work. I am loyal to this country. I shouldn’t have to state my loyalty. Unfortunately because of the color of my skin and the culture I come from there are some who suspect our loyalty.

... a fixed obsession on Anglo-Saxon superiority.

Immigration has always been a political one … the group coming in has never been good enough for the people who had come in earlier …

No car with my name on the hood is going to have a Jap engine inside.

Racism is old, but Peele found a poetic new way of talking about it. He gave us language we didn't know we lacked.

In South Africa, they think we're pygmies!

I do not want to name any individual names, but I felt like when I was working in Hollywood, there were some fellow colleagues of mine who didn't even look me in the eyes because I was Asian.

I'm Asian, so they assumed I'm not an American and that I come from Japan. Restaurants would refuse to serve me, and places would refuse to give you a haircut.

Especially after the Twin Towers, we're so terrified of 'Arabic' people. And talk about stereotypical negative portrayals of people of certain groups, if you look at the portrayal of Arabic people in Hollywood films, it's just appalling. They've always been just the easiest of targets - along with native Africans and what have you.

Islamophobia emerged from the Western countries, and this is a challenge that we all together need to surmount.

Attacking another American's qualifications solely based on his ethnic background is bigotry. Plain and simple.

When people today say 'racism,' they mean it's a nationalism they don't like. Racialism used to be a good thing, a looking-out for what was best for one group... Israel comes out of that 19th-century idea of nationalism. Many Arab states also have preferences. It's fundamentally unfair to decide that one is racism and the others aren't.

When I was asked to be a part of 'The Face,' I was like, 'This is exactly what I do without cameras.' I didn't find it any different than what I usually do for young girls - giving runway tips or just explaining how the whole industry works - but now you have, like, 19 cameras on you, documenting you while you scratch your nose.