Cameron Diaz sound bite, ‘I haven’t been to the Philippines, but I grew up with a lot of Filipinos,’ is trending on TikTok
A sound bite from a 2014 interview featuring Cameron Diaz has resurfaced and is gaining traction on TikTok.
In 2014, while promoting the film “The Other Woman” in Manila, Philippines, Diaz, who is seen alongside co-stars Kate Upton and Leslie Mann, talks to a Filipino journalist about how she “grew up with a lot of Filipinos.” This segment of the interview has since become a trending sound bite on TikTok that many Gen Z Filipinos are playfully using.
“I haven’t been to the Philippines, but I grew up with a lot of Filipinos,” Diaz, who is half Cuban, says with what’s likely an attempt at a Filipino accent. “My best friend who I grew up next door to, her mother was from the Philippines. Lumpia, adobo, I ate it every single day. . . . Rice, all the time, her mom made the best rice.”
Lumpia, a fried spring roll, and adobo, a chicken or pork stew, are traditional dishes in Filipino cuisine.
“Nahhhh it’s still weird to say it like that, Cameron. These ‘yes men’ in the comments are giving terrible advice,” @midnightmint3 replied to the Diaz interview clip.
“No way everyone’s gassing her up when this made me cringe so hard,” @angelsincielo222 also commented.
TikTok users who identify as Filipino are reciting Diaz’s now-trending quote about the Southeast Asian country and its dishes to cheekily “prove” or “legitimize” their connection to the culture.
On May 4, Shana Mafnas (@shanamafnas), who lives in Hawaii according to her TikTok page, used the sound bite in response to “trying to convince my family in the Philippines that I’m in touch with that side even though I wasn’t raised in PI.”
“About the extent of my Filipino knowledge too,” @xpbnslayx commented on Mafna’s video.
“no like this sound needs to trend bc LMAO,” @saintbabyy also wrote.
Diaz’s sound bite also resonated with TikTok creator Tina (@chefboyardeelasagna), who used it in a video posted to the platform in May.
“me when someone tries to guess what asian i am and they say filipino,” she writes.
“Imagine my surprise when i click on the sound and see that its cameron diaz,” @kayemgee111 commented, to which Tina replied, “I WAS SO SHOCKED.”
In June, Laura Greenaway (@laura.greenaway) used the sound bite to explain “when ur wasian but ur lola and lolo raised you.” The term “wasian” is used to describe those who identify as being half white and half Filipino.
While Filipino Americans are poking some fun at Diaz’s fondness of the Filipino culture, there’s a notable history of Filipinos from the Philippines gravitating toward white, Hollywood celebrities who’ve shown interest in the country, its people and traditions. The pride some Filipinos derive from being noticed by white celebrities who are famous in America may, in part, be due to the country’s colonial history. The country has long seen one’s whiteness — over brownness — as a marker of beauty and prestige, according to some critics.
“After World War II, the white paragon of beauty persisted, popularized by movie studios and their stables of mestizo and mestiza stars,” Rey E. de la Cruz, Penelope V. Flores and Delia R. Barcelona wrote for Positively Filipino, a magazine that focuses on the Filipino diaspora. The terms “mestizo” and “mestiza” refer to people who are of mixed white European ancestry. “Also, there were American television shows (e.g., Bewitched and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and commercials (e.g., Goodyear tires and L&M cigarettes), which all featured handsome white men and women. Mestizas were the choice Filipina contestants sent to international beauty pageants.”
Diaz is among many Hollywood stars who’ve received a warm welcome in the Philippines. Margot Robbie, Owen Wilson and Zac Efron are some other stars who’ve previously been spotted enjoying their time in the country.
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