Tommy Ngo's "LOVE" Belt Caused Protesting at Santa Ana


Picture from Quí Nguyễn/CTV Người Việt

Almost 100 people came to protest singer Tommy Ngo outside of the Orange County Performing Arts Pavilion in Santa Ana on Sunday July 29, 2007 after Tommy Ngo was spotted wearing a red belt with the word LOVE and a star in the center of the "O" on the poster cover of "Nhung Tieng Hat va Nu Cuoi 5." According to some people, it is a resembling of the red flag with a yellow star of communists in Vietnam. One of the people there, Phuc Nguyen voiced out about the matter by criticizing Tommy Ngo for not knowing better of how sensitive the Vietnamese community is with communists. Also she said that Tommy Ngo’s wife well known singer Lynda Trang Dai was already in the news for doing shows in Vietnam. Other people who came to see the show ended up leaving after seeing the big protesting scene. Some tried to return their tickets but was refused. Many people felt threatened by the protestants, and it showed when they came out from the show with their face down trying to avoid the angry crowd. The protesting crowd yelled at people who went to see the show and called them out as followers of Viet Cong and even yelled at a five-year-old girl. The story just about ended when the show’s creator Andy Thanh came to greet the crowd with a few sorry words to explain that he knew nothing and he was only trying to do business and not supporting Viet Cong. As for the story about Tommy Ngo’s belt, it was just a misunderstanding because the star in the center of the "O" is not yellow but white so that does not reflect on the red flag and yellow star. Furthermore he said that if the star looked yellow on the poster, it was because of a misprint problem and so he had someone bought out the belt to show everyone.


Picture from Quí Nguyễn/CTV Người Việt

My Thoughts:
I understand that the poster is misleading but nevertheless there are better way to resolve the frustrating without protesting. I find this story so annoying because the people who protested are causing problems that are unnecessary. I don’t think Tommy Ngo wore the belt on purpose to bring trouble to him and or the show. Also I doubt that the company who made the belt cared whether or not the belt symbolized a flag from Vietnam. It is all too ridiculous! I said this before but I will say again that people are only trying to make a living, but some others just have to cause trouble whether it is on purpose or not. They have too much time and must be really bored to pay attention to a little detail on a poster. This kind of protesting not only disrupted a perfect show but for those innocent people who only wanted a relaxing time, they were ripped of the chance. Take a look at the picture above of a woman who took her time out to come and held up the “right flag”. The way she looked and in her eyes, do you see any fighting spirit? To me the picture well represented the whole mess of a few numbers causing trouble and others following blindly. One elder person called out to the show’s creators to not stab into the wounds of others. No one is doing that; only those people who protested bought the trouble upon themselves. Even worse was that the protestants picked on a 5 year old girl who had nothing to do with it; she was brought along by her mother and yet they accused Viet Cong for wrongdoing to innocent lives…



On another note, people from the younger generation that do not know much about any of the communist things and wanted to only go see the show will be put down. They will be annoyed and confused to why they cannot go see a music show normally. It is not only making the younger generation want to stay far away from the community and especially trying to learn more about the Vietnam War. I don’t think any of protestants’ behaviors reflect anything good on the Vietnamese community beside that they like to use numbers of people as a way to bully others and especially businesses. From the poster it looked like the red flag but if these people were reasonable people with some sense of knowledge, they would not act on such impulse and would resolve the problem behind the scene instead of rallying people to cause trouble. They are no less than a bunch of people at the marketplace cursing and yelling rudely. I truly feel sad for these people. And I’m starting to think that this is all Vietnamese people know of, and or do in order to get what they want. This is really embarrassing each and every time that the Vietnamese community decided to protest or boycott. We all know about the Vietnam War and how tragic it is and for many of us we cannot fully understand what others had gone through but that does not become a reason for people to constantly take advantage of the idea and the tragic event. There is a time when we need to move on from history and focus more on our present life. Obsessing over the past cannot change much for the future.

Check out the video below, and listen to what the people who showed up said. It really supports what I said because the protestant do not seem serious about the protesting but more like let’s do what others do, buy some screen time, and have fun kind of thing. These people say so loudly on video protesting against communism in Vietnam and yet they go to Vietnam every year. Lastly what they are doing here in America is not in any way hurting or putting an end to communism in Vietnam but they are hurting the Vietnamese community overseas. The Viet Cong are probably laughing at us for fighting against each other. And As far as I know this could all be another set up between business competitors. Also was it a coincident that Trinh Hoi was the MC? What are your thoughts?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I guess the whole 'look before you jump' doesn't apply here. I'm all for fighting back and all that against the vc, but the screaming and yelling really doesn't work. Sides, power always is with the many - the more people, the more intimidating. Yelling and cursing the elderly or the kids is not the way to go. While it's understandable that it's painful and such to be reminded or to see that flag, it's something that isn't going to change today or tomorrow, or even a month or year from now. Changing from one type of government to another takes time, and requires help from both inside the government and out. Rather than spending time protesting and going no where (other than traumatizing and demeaning others, and at the same time making yourselves look like fools like this situation here), put that energy into better use.
Karly said…
Thank you for your commment. You said it well.
Anonymous said…
Its funny that they still have a fashion belt from few year ago and immediatly "thinking"

^^
Anonymous said…
I'm not viet but when i saw this show , all i could do is laugh at the protesters. They didn't get enough information and went head first to manage a protest. It was pathetic. As an outsider looking in on the viet community, i find no words to describe at all. All i could think was that, "if they hated the viet cong so much why don't they go back to vietnam and try doing it there?" I doubt anyone would want to try that. You're just making yourself look very bad to others. I hope the next time they do protest against something, please have reliable evidence. Something more than just a belt too.

I know they are proud and well cultured people. Good luck to them.
The '3 que' just dont know how retarded they sound.
Who the fuck would waste their sunday protesting over a belt?
Thanks "Vietaccent" for writing abotu their retardness.
3 que con cac
Anonymous said…
um...it also resembles the TEXACO symbol...are the protestors gonna go protest the texaco oil company next?
Myson Nguyen said…
ddddddaannnnnggg...those people got sharp eyes...this is kin of a stupid situation though...
Anonymous said…
When I first saw the picture of the belt at the very top, I thought: What's wrong? I don't see it? It's a LOVE belt with a WHITE star. And then I read the article and realized what was going on.

Like are you kidding me? I'm from the younger generation so I guess I wouldn't know how people from the older generation felt. They know first hand what the war was like. And I can sympathize with there feelings because they lost a lot from the war and immigrating to another country.

But I just think, before they should make such a big deal out of it, maybe they should've talked to the music company to see what was going on first. They must've been bored and had nothing to do with their time.

I mean any Vietnamese person coming to America is most likely against the communists. There are so many other things that are MORE important that they could protest about. Why a belt??? I've seen worst. This is just stupid.
Anonymous said…
i didnt think that ppl should protest over a belt. although it does resemble the flag, its not lyk Tommy Ngo did it on purpose. he didnt think that the belt would end up looking lyk a flag ppl would protest over...

Or would he??
Anonymous said…
I don't like this sort of protest as well, just a bunch of silly fools, probably live on welfare and have nothing to do. I have an idea, why don't you have another protest to protest against those protesters. That'll be so damn fun to see. Too bad I live in Aust and I can't participate :)
Anonymous said…
what is a "viet cong"? people in this protest equate the current vn flag with "vc" but they don't seem to really question what a "vc" is. in a country of 85 million people, some 50 million were born after 1975 - "vc" is just a slang term used as much in vietnam as here for whatever it is someone doesn't like. The actual political organization like the communist party in VN today is NOTHING like it was back in the "golden days" before '75. When "tays" like me see such protests, we just smile and think of those cute 60 yrs+ grandmas out there swinging their megaphones, living in the past... They are the Viet American counterparts of grandmas in Hanoi doing the same sort of patriotic dance. Let the grandmas have their say, even if they are a little crochety and misdirecting their angst!
Anonymous said…
I look at the picture of the belt buckle many times but still cannot relate it to the Communist flag of red and yellow star, yes, the belt buckle is red with a star in the center, but common, does people notice its shape is ROUND? Last time i checked, the communist flag is rectangle! This is what I hate about "political-correctness", it screw up everything! A star is a very common design in fashion, beside, this belt said "LOVE", not "SUPPORT COMMUNIST"! There are many things they could have done that would have been more effective, such as write a blog instead of protesting over a belt.
Anonymous said…
Hey, Im from Australia and I saw the protest, and I just gotta say, geez, you American's do have alot of time up your sleeves eh? nah Im just kidding. But on a more serious note, I dont think this production set out to hurt anyone. Of course people have the right to protest and speak out against the so called Viet Cong, but are you telling me that a fashion belt was the cause of this uproar? Unbelievable!
I feel sorry for Andy Thanh who set out to make an honest living trying to entertain the Vietnamese Community.
Anonymous said…
VietAccent,

Did you notice the flag counter on your site? Thought I brought that to your attention.
Anonymous said…
this is ridiculous. if there were no VC , you guys wouldn't even be in this country in the first place.

If you don't like the regime in Vietnam, you don't have to agree (many people live in vietnam and don't agree with it either) but that doesn't give you any right to accuse anyone of being communist...

you left the regime, but you didn't leave your country... did you? you're still vietnamese. accept that fact.

vietnam is a growing country now. the regime is not good but it will hopefully change one day. and i love vietnam, my home country. it is always in my heart, no matter what.

so shut up people who protest! you know nothing of vietnam now... and you're not american either.. so just be who you are and stop bitching and moaning about a red flag with yellow star.. so what!
Anonymous said…
woah... they have a lot of time on thier hands to be noticing little details like that...a belt! i'm pretty sure tommy ngo was shocked when people protested him, who would've thought?
Anonymous said…
Protesters were howling insults and mocking the people that were walking in to watch the show, accusing them of being traitors... but in the end, it was the protestors that ended up making complete idiots of themselves.

Just seeing the look on their faces when they saw the Love belt just proved how silly and easily lead people can be...
Anonymous said…
Protesters were howling insults and mocking the people that were walking in to watch the show, accusing them of being traitors... but in the end, it was the protestors that ended up making complete idiots of themselves.

Just seeing the look on their faces when they saw the Love belt just proved how silly and easily lead people can be...
Anonymous said…
Problem 1: Tommy Ngo should know what looks like the Vietnam communist flag before he wears it.

Problem 2: The producer does not check to see if it looks like the flag on the cover or what?

Problem 3: Two problems above lead to protest if not resolved.

Problem 4: Protesters should be more gentle.

Oh yeah, the protesters get the right to protest.
Anonymous said…
Those old geezers are no fools. They are on welfare and have all the time in the world with nothing to do. On top of that they get paid $50/person to protest. Win/win for them. LOL
Anonymous said…
Ahh... the dumbfounded reaction on protestors faces after realising it was only a fashion belt.
... Priceless.

Although it makes does make you wonder what those idiots were really protesting about. I'm sure those prostestors don't have an answer for that either.
Anonymous said…
Just a piece of love banner and star in middle, it doesnt mean he support communist. The people who protest is suck.Make no sense at all. Please people open mind for the young generation. put history for a side. Let open new chapter for now. Love and share. not being self fish like protesters. LOL

From Australia
Anonymous said…
Just popping in to say nice site.