90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days’ Season 5: Ella Responds to Fans Calling Her Out About Her ‘Asian Fetishism’ in the Most Lackluster Way
90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days Season 5 introduced fans to seven new couples this season. After several spinoffs featuring former cast members, audiences were excited for some fresh faces on one of their favorite shows. However, one new cast member, Ella, has been accused of “fetishizing Asian culture.” Now, the 29-year-old from Idaho Falls, Idaho, finally responded to some comments.
Why was ‘Before the 90 Days’ Season 5 star Ella accused of ‘fetishizing Asian culture?’
Viewers of Before the 90 Days Season 5 noticed some red flags with Ella’s relationship before she even debuted on the show. In a teaser trailer promoted by TLC, a video clip showed Ella in what appeared to be a Samurai outfit while swinging a Katana around in her backyard.
Ella then explained to Before the 90 Days Season 5 producers, “I am super into everything Asian-culture so when I saw Johnny I was like ‘oh my God.'”
Fans immediately pointed out their issues with Ella and Johnny’s relationship. One Redditor wrote, “Two thoughts: ‘I love Asian culture’ as-if Asian culture was a monolith. Also, I hate all of this. But also I love it. What kind of monster am I.”
Other viewers also pointed out the overgeneralization of “Asian” being just “one culture.” Another Reddit user wrote, “‘I’m super into Asian culture,’ ah yes, Asia, the place with only one culture and exactly one type of people, Asia.”
As audiences saw more of Ella in episodes 3 and 4, they finally began to call her out on the problems with her various statements about Asian culture.
Ella reposted an image of a comment calling her out on Instagram
On Dec. 3, 2021, Ella took to her personal Instagram account to post a screenshot of a comment someone left her. The comment read, “Fetishizing an entire race of people and generalizing a WHOLE continent? Literally repulsive. Stop deleting comments calling you out on your racism and take some responsibility for yourself.”
Ella included her reply to the comment in the screenshot, even though the last line was cropped out. Ella wrote, “I am sorry you feel this way, but I don’t accept negativity in my life, but I wish you all the -” The comment is cut off, but most can assume the last sentence was “I wish you all the best.”
Fans feel the ‘Before the 90 Days’ Season 5 star’s reply didn’t acknowledge the problem
Several fans went back and forth in support or against the Before the 90 Days Season 5 star’s reply. Some thought it was over the line for a viewer to attack Ella directly on her personal Instagram account, while others thought Ella’s dismissal of the problem in her reply looked terrible on her part.
One Redditor wrote, “‘I don’t accept negativity…’ So, she’s perfect and beyond any criticism. You can’t even call her ignorant, which she objectively is, obviously. Okay.”
Another user replied, “Color me shocked by her non-response response.
However, fans on her Instagram page were overwhelmingly positive with their comments.
One Instagram user came to Ella’s defense, “I don’t believe there’s a person on the planet that doesn’t have a type if they could draw their ‘perfect match.’ I hear people all the time say they want this or that, or this is a deal-breaker, so I won’t date someone with this quality…you are the LAST person I would consider racist! Someone is just trying to grab at straws to find something to pick on you for…We now aren’t “allowed” to have certain qualities let our heart flutter a little faster? Come on now! Can’t wait to watch your journey with Johnny unfold!”
Ella and Johnny certainly seem to suffer some ups and downs in their relationship this season, so fans will have to wait to see how it all unfolds. Catch new episodes of Before the 90 Days Season 5 on TLC on Sunday nights.
