BD Wong is having one of those weeks where deleting a comment doesn’t quite delete the problem. The 65-year-old actor, known for everything from Jurassic Park to his long run on Law & Order: SVU, landed in the middle of a storm after replying to a Dec. 1 Instagram post from wildlife influencer Mike Holston, better known as The Real Tarzann. Holston’s prompt was simple: “Name this animal…wrong answers only.” Wong’s attempt to play along was anything but. His now-deleted comment read, “It appears to be a Black man.”
Once the screenshot marathon kicked in, Wong moved to Threads and tried to take ownership. “Y’all I made a very bad joke. As most people in hot water do, I deleted it for Damage Control but it’s out there & continues to hurt & disappoint & I’m really sorry about the hurt part,” he wrote. He didn’t try to dress it up. He didn’t try to spin it. He just called it what it was. “Super dumb, but I tried to follow the ‘Wrong Answers Only’ prompt with the wrongest answer. This succeeded only in that it was Super Wrong.”
You can feel the regret in how hard he leans into that phrase. Anyone who’s followed Wong for years—through Mr. Robot, Gotham, or even his Emmy-nominated turn as Whiterose—knows he’s usually measured. This time he kept going, posting again to stress that he wasn’t interested in dodging blame. “I want to elaborate on a racist comment I posted, to clarify that I recognize & accept the responsibility for how terrible it is. It’s also wrong to try to ‘explain’ anything,” he said, adding that explaining only breaks trust.
He wrapped the follow-up with a direct admission many public figures avoid. “Let me please spend the energy on how wrong I know it is to exploit a despicable, racist trope in the supposed spirit of humor; I do know better, but again no excuses. Very sorry for the hurt I’ve caused & for taking lightly something so deeply injurious.”
Wong’s career spans decades, starting with his breakout in the 1988 Broadway production of M. Butterfly, which earned him a Tony Award before he ever set foot in Jurassic Park as Dr. Henry Wu in ’93. He’s fought publicly for representation in the industry, even writing an open letter earlier this year criticizing Broadway’s casting of a non-Asian actor in Maybe Happy Ending. That history made this week’s misstep land even heavier for longtime fans.
When someone with a resume like his trips this badly, people notice. And they hold him to the standard he helped build. The apology won’t erase the comment, but it shows he knows that repairing trust takes more than hitting delete.
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