Tweet with a location 
 
 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Just One More Thing... 
 
 We have sent you a verification email. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your profile. 
 
 If you do not receive the verification message within a few minutes of signing up, please check your Spam or Junk folder. 
 
 Close ||||| Allison Ng, one of the major characters in Cameron Crowe's recently released Aloha, is Asian-American. Emma Stone, the actress the director chose to portray her, is not. The casting decision raised eyebrows and drew criticism from groups who said that by using Stone to play a character who explicitly states her racially mixed background throughout the movie, Crowe was whitewashing the role. Now Crowe, in a post on his own site, has offered a "heart-felt apology to all who felt this was an odd or misguided casting choice." 
 
 The director says that he was "grateful for the dialogue" the backlash provided, but also took the time to defend his decision to cast Stone as Ng. "As far back as 2007," Crowe writes, "Captain Allison Ng was written to be a super-proud one-quarter Hawaiian who was frustrated that, by all outward appearances, she looked nothing like one." Crowe, who has described Aloha as a film about Hawaii, says that her half-Chinese father was meant to symbolize "the surprising mix of cultures often prevalent" on the islands. 
 
 The director says Ng was based on a real-life, red-haired Hawaiian local 
 
 Crowe says that Ng was written to be "extremely proud of her unlikely heritage," and also "personally compelled to over-explain every chance she gets." The character, he says, was based on a "real-life, red-headed local" who also detailed her background to others whenever possible. Certainly, the movie makes a point of conflating Ng's stated heritage with her outward appearances — Bradley Cooper's character makes direct reference to her self-definition as Hawaiian, in the same way Americans will define themselves as one-eighth Irish, Italian, or similar. 
 
 But despite his protestations, the director does not discount the complaints about the casting choice entirely. "I have learned something very inspiring," Crowe writes. "So many of us are hungry for stories with more racial diversity, more truth in representation, and I am anxious to help tell those stories in the future." Hopefully, after the turgid Aloha, the director's apparently new-found cultural sensitivity will also remind him how to make good movies again.
– Examples of bad judgment abound in some of the public apologies making headlines this week: Out of bounds: "It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize."—Ted Cruz, after publicly mocking the VP just days after his son died. Dangerous soda? "Ms. Ahmad was our customer and we apologize to her for what occurred on the flight."—United Airlines, after a flight attendant refused to give a Muslim passenger a can of Diet Coke for fear it would be used "as a weapon." (She says her non-Muslim seatmate got a can of beer without any trouble.) Casting call: “Thank you so much for all the impassioned comments regarding the casting of the wonderful Emma Stone in the part of Allison Ng. I have heard your words and your disappointment, and I offer you a heart-felt apology to all who felt this was an odd or misguided casting choice."—Cameron Crowe, for casting Stone to play an Asian-American character in Aloha. That's harassment? "And while we have apologized to the student directly, we also want to publicly apologize for her behavior, which is not representative of KSU’s student-centered culture.” —Kennesaw State University, after one of its advisers was captured in a viral video accusing a student of harassment and calling campus police, all because he was waiting around for an adviser to become available. The adviser has to undergo training. Oh, George: "To Heidi, I personally apologize. You are a sweetheart. ... She was generous and gracious and I am so mad at myself for retelling this story in any way that would diminish her."—Jason Alexander, after the Seinfeld alum said the cast didn't like the character of Susan, played by Heidi Swedberg, and that's the reason she was killed off.