Some running gags go too far, and How I Met Your Mother is guilty of it. The mid-2000s sitcom is the quintessential New York-ian tale: five friends — Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), and Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) — experience the ups and downs of their lives together. True to its title, the central theme of the show is figuring out who Ted’s future wife is. But before viewers get to that conclusion, they’ll have to stick around with the gang as they come to terms with being an adult.
Much of How I Met Your Mother‘s longevity comes from the show’s numerous inside jokes. Whether it’s Barney’s “Legend—wait for it—dary!”, Robin’s “I’m Canadian” jabs, or Marshall’s obsession with the best burger in town, these running gags are spaced throughout the seasons to keep the series lively over the course of its nine-year tenure on TV. However, one particular joke stands out. Not for the physicality it requires, but because it crosses a line into problematic territory, resulting in How I Met Your Mother’s most controversial episode.
The Slap Bet Became a Thanksgiving Joke in ‘How I Met Your Mother’
Across nine seasons, the Slap Bet became one of the show’s most famous (and funniest) traditions. First introduced in Season 2, Episode 9, “Slap Bet,” the schtick began as a harmless bet between Barney and Marshall over Robin’s mysterious video from her past, which she strictly forbids anyone from watching. Barney thinks she’s a former porn star, while Marshall believes she was married. Ted eventually tracks down the video and learns that Robin was a teen pop star in Canada known as Robin Sparkles. Because Barney’s theory was way off (and completely inappropriate), Marshall effectively wins the bet, earning him five slaps.
The hilarious side gag eventually became a recurring Thanksgiving tradition known as Slapsgiving, which first appeared in Season 3, Episode 9, “Slapsgiving.” The HIMYM gang spends their first Thanksgiving together with Lily and Marshall as a married couple. While the two are busy prepping for a massive feast, the recently broken-up Ted and Robin butt heads with each other. Meanwhile, Marshall obsesses about his third slap, much to Lily’s frustration. Although Marshall initially decides to call off the slap, Barney’s relentless taunting pushes him over the edge, leading to the moment Marshall delivers the slap — officially making it Slapsgiving.
The second Slapsgiving plot appears in Season 5, Episode 9, “Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap.” Two years after the original Slapsgiving, Marshall still has two slaps left from the Slap Bet. When Ted and Robin recover Marshall’s turkey, which he accidentally left in a cab, Marshall decides to give one of his slaps to Ted or Robin as a Thanksgiving gift. With Ted and Robin fighting over who gets to give the slap, in the end, it’s Marshall who takes his fourth slap back and delivers it himself.
The Final Slapsgiving Episode Features Robin, Lily, and Ted in Yellowface
While the first two Slapsgiving episodes had the right balance of slapping anxiety and heartfelt Thanksgiving reflection, the third and final installment completely lost the plot. Not only was the Thanksgiving spirit overshadowed, but the storyline also chose to make cultural appropriation the main joke of the entire episode. In Season 9, Episode 14 “Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra,” the episode opens seventeen hours before Barney and Robin’s wedding, Marshall prepares to deliver another slap. Weeks earlier, Marshall recounts an over-the-top, kung fu-style tale about traveling the world to master the “Slap of a Million Exploding Suns.”
Marshall’s story claims he trained under three “masters of the slap,” and this is where the episode’s main issue begins. In his exaggerated flashback, he learns speed from Red Bird (played by Robin), strength from White Flower (played by Lily), and accuracy from the Calligrapher (played by Ted). However, all three characters are white actors portraying stereotypical Chinese kung fu masters — a clear example of yellowface.
Robin appears in a red cheongsam, Lily in a white Wing Chun outfit, and Ted in an emerald-green robe. The costuming and makeup heighten the caricature. Robin wears chopsticks in her hair, while Ted sports a long, thin Fu Manchu-style mustache, a dated and racist trope portraying elderly Chinese men as sinister or untrustworthy. Worse still, each character embodies a different Chinese stereotype: Robin as the fiery, exotic master, Lily as the meek, wise teacher, and Ted as the calculating, nerdy scholar.
‘How I Met Your Mother’ Writers Received Backlash for Cultural Appropriation
Following the premiere of “Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra on CBS, viewers were quick to call out the show’s problematic portrayal, insisting that “their culture is not their costume.” The backlash led to the “#HowIMetYourRacism” Twitter hashtag, prompting show writer Carter Bays to issue an online apology: “With Monday’s episode, we set out to make a silly and unabashedly immature homage to Kung Fu movies, a genre we’ve always loved. But along the way, we offended people. We’re deeply sorry, and we’re grateful to everyone who spoke up to make us aware of it.”
This is where the line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation gets tested. Thanks to icons like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li, the martial arts genre has become a global phenomenon, welcomed by an international audience outside of just Asia. Although martial arts are deeply rooted in East Asian culture, films such as Rush Hourand Shanghai Noon draw heavy inspiration from its fighting traditions and aesthetics. In fact, much of the How I Met Your Mother episode is modeled after the Kill Bill saga, as seen in Marshall’s three masters, the “Slap of a Million Exploding Suns” (a clear nod to the “Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique”), and the Calligrapher’s bloody death scene.
Although paying homage to classic kung fu movies can be a fun creative choice, it must be done with respect. However, the episode leans completely into Asian mysticism stereotypes. Turning another culture into a shallow caricature for cheap laughs is anything but respectful. There’s nothing wrong with the How I Met Your Mother main cast, but obviously they are not Asian actors and the show’s overall lack of representation makes “Slapsgiving 3” even more problematic, especially as the episode has Asian background actors who act as little more than set dressing for these “jokes.” When Ted, Robin, and Lily cosplay as Asian stereotypes, it reinforces the exclusion of Asian people from authentic representation.Since the episode’s air date in 2014, Asian representation has thankfully grown over the past decade. Still, episodes like “Slapsgiving 3” serve as a reminder of how far television has come, and how important it is to learn from these mistakes.
- Release Date
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2005 – 2014-00-00
- Showrunner
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Craig Thomas
- Directors
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Michael J. Shea
- Writers
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Chris Harris, Stephen Lloyd, Joe Kelly, Robia Rashid, Greg Malins, Chris Marcil, Phil Lord, Sam Johnson, Tami Sagher, Gloria Calderon Kellett
