Our Apologies

Posted by Tommy and Eddie on April 8, 2007

Update: This is a repost of our apology which we published on our site at the beginning of March 2007.

We have been in the process of developing this message of apology for several weeks now. It has been a difficult road for us, but one we are thankful for as we approach the other side ofthings and see God working in us to become not only better people, but also different people as we learn from our mistakes and unrealized offenses that have been brought to our attention inrecent days because they have caused pain to so many of you who we desire to call friends.

We want to say first and foremost to the Asian American community, and to all those who have been hurt or offended by our work in any way, that we are deeply sorry. We truly are. We realize that we made an ignorant, horrible decision to produce material that was offensive, simply for the purpose of making people laugh. While we love making people laugh, we regret that it came at the costly price of hurting people. We understand that it is your choice on whether or not to receive our apology and offer forgiveness. However, we hope you will believe us when we say that we truly did not mean any harm in our actions that obviously have been very harmful to many. We were ignorant of our own failures, shortcomings, and understandings about the feelings of others. We were wrong to have them in the first place and have already grown personally from this experience as painful as it has been both to those we have offended as well as to us for being the offenders. Again, we are deeply sorry.

This terrible experience has opened our eyes to the ignorance we have regarding the daily hurt that ethnic groups experience because of stereotypes. At the same time, we are thankful for the help of those in the Asian community, who recognized what we had done was hurtful, yet believe that our intention was not to be hurtful, and thus are willing to help us learn and grow through this process.

We have gone through several different stages in this process from unbelief, to frustration, to defensiveness and finally to accepting the truth of the error of what we have done. Through all of these stages, we have made different decisions as we have been seeking to correct our error and seek to make some kind of amends for the pain we caused.
On February 23, we removed the book in question from our website and destroyed all that we had in our possession.
We have been and are currently still in the process of working with Youth Specialties and Zondervan in the process of editing the book for re-publication. These are both great organizations and we are thankful for their help in this process. If you have not had the chance to read the open apology by Mark Oestreicher, President of Youthspecialties, then please do so at http://www.ysmarko.com/.
On February 23, we removed the mp3 of the skit in question from our website. Since then, we have also removed other audio and pdf versions of scripts that we now understand to be offensive in nature.
We have been in an ongoing dialogue with Dr. Rev. Soong-Chan Rah in an attempt to learn and grow in this area. He has been very helpful in suggesting a couple of books to read and will follow up with more discussions.
On February 25, we began the process of working on a script or scripts with friends both among the Asian American community as well as others who we trust may be able to help us learn from our mistakes as we also seek to help educate others about the racial issues that exist in our world and in the church. This will be a lengthy process as we need to be educated before we can begin to educate others.
Since our first e-mail about this issue on February 19, we have personally replied to everyone who took the time to contact us and are committed to respond to anyone who is interested in voicing frustration,anger, disgust, confusion, etc. We realize that the book of Proverbs teaches that "where words are many, sin is not absent." Thus, in choosing to respond to all who wish to continue in this dialogue with us, we realize that we run the risk of being misunderstood in the future. That is a risk we are willing to take as we desire both to learn how to grow in this area of our lives where growth is needed, as well as to listen and respond to those who may wish to talk with us more about the issue at hand. If you would like to open a dialogue with us, please feel free to e-mail us at tommy@skitguys.com or eddie@skitguys.com. We would love to learn to grow together with you in the days ahead.

We truly are thankful for this difficult process because our eyes have been opened and we believe we will be better people for all that has happened in the process. That, in our understanding of the Bible, is the most important thing. We also understand that apart from Jesus, we are offensive to God no matter how culturally sensitive we may be to each other. We believe it is only because of Jesus' mercy, grace, and sacrifice that we have any hope of being in right standing with God. Whether you agree with those views is a conversation for another day perhaps. However, it is only by your forgiveness that we have the hope of being in right standing with those we have offended. That being said please accept our apology and find it in your heart to forgive us as we learn from our mistakes. We hope and pray that God will use this situation to help educate and change other's hearts and minds as He has done with us.

Comments

Jimmy April 8, 2007 at 9:26 p.m.

You guys are awesome. Be encouraged and keep serving the Lord!

Kerri April 11, 2007 at 8:27 p.m.

Just wanted to let you know that you are both awesome and extremely talented and I love to watch you. You make me laugh till I cry every time I see you. The first time was at Falls Creek. You have touched many lives for Christ. Keep going. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

Andy April 17, 2007 at 9:16 p.m.

Hey guys, first of all, we all make mistakes on a daily basis. The best thing you can do is to fess up that you made the mistake and to ask for forgivness; which you guys have done. Second of all, the ministry that you guys do is awesome and really unique. God uses you guys to reach and bless people of all ages and I truely appreciate all that you do.

God Bless,
Pastor Andy

Gaye April 23, 2007 at 2:42 p.m.

Praying for you...

Cole April 23, 2007 at 7:05 p.m.

Part of humor is laughing at ourselves. I hope we don't become so sensitive that you guys can't even minister. You guys characterize pastors, janitors, deacons, blondes, Christians, girls, boys...and all of those on purpose. And I love it! Is an Asian character not supposed to speak with an Asian dialect? I have not read the skit, but...at this rate you'll be writing more apologies than skits.
You guys keep up the great job. You have gone above and behond seeking forgiveness for something that is less offensive than most things on the most popular shows on TV.

Carrie April 24, 2007 at 7:43 p.m.

I pray that you don't let this discourage you because in today's society everyone is offended about something. God has truly blessed you two with the gift of ministry through comedy. I have seen you 3 times at the International Church of God Youth Conventions and you were awesome. Just remember that satan will use anything or anyone he can to try to keep us from glorifying God and spreading his Word. Just keep doing what you are doing....showing the love, mercy and grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ through the gift of christian comedy that he has given you!!!

Kellie May 13, 2007 at 5:08 a.m.

You guys have made me laugh at times when I didnt think I could! Dont let this get you down! I'm praying for you!

Morgan June 26, 2007 at 5:26 a.m.

I just got back from X-fuge in Panama City Beach, And i just wanted to let you guys know that i love what you do. I was in drama at my old school and i was never allowed to do any kind of christian skit or play. and now that i have moved here to Texas i have been wanting to work with my theater teacher and i am going to show here some of the skits yall do and hopefully she will allow me to try one. Thank you so much for your awesome witness!! and i cant wait to see yall again soon at yec in Dallas!!! Im always praying that God will use you to reach out to others like you did to me!! Thanks guys!!!

david mclaughlin July 1, 2007 at 5:12 a.m.

very cool

mike September 13, 2007 at 5:44 a.m.

hey you guys! someone is hitting your blog with some extremely bad stuff. Just in case you are not aware.

John Easterly January 3, 2008 at 4:38 p.m.

The first time I saw/met you was at Louisiana College. You performed for chapel and also helped us with a few of our skits for Witness. It was very, very cool. You actually called me "short bus" when I goofed on something. It was one of those, "Hey wait....BWAHAHAHA!!" moments for me. I immediately liked you guys.
Then you told us that you jokingly called someone that once and they really did ride the handicap bus...oh...no good.

Basically, I feel for you guys. As you know, people can and will get offended at almost anything. I don't know if there's a fine line to not cross or...I don't know. Half of me believes that humor is a healing salve for even racial/ethnic tension. The other half believes that some wounds cut too deep to bare such things yet.

Brothers, I just don't know what to say about this issue. But I do know that you must still be brave and bold in your advances for the gospel. Your skits are brave; the heart-felt apology was brave. Love you dudes.

April Barlow November 15, 2008 at 1:21 p.m.

Kerri Browning November 17, 2008 at 1:30 a.m.

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