( CNN ) ABC 's `` Fresh Off The Boat , '' the first sitcom to feature an Asian American family in two decades , has run into renewed controversy a week before its debut . While the show has been praised for its potential to rebut stereotypes , its social media team flubbed when it tweeted a graphic featuring caricatures of different races underneath the phrase `` We 're all a little # FreshOffTheBoat . '' If anything , the ad reinforced tired imagery : One Asian figure wore a pointy bamboo hat ; another Latino figure wore a sombrero with a curly mustache . Story creator Eddie Huang , whose memoirs the sitcom is based on , was furious . `` This is plain offensive and ridiculous , '' he tweeted . `` Someone please reverse this ... at least they did n't do the Native American with chicken pox blankie lol '' `` Point is n't whether we in fact wear kufis and rice hats but it 's reductive , '' he added . Wall Street Journal columnist Jeff Yang , whose son Hudson stars in the series , tweeted that the ad was `` awful . '' The controversy came just weeks after Huang publicly slammed the show 's producers in a lengthy New York Magazine piece , accusing the network of distorting his memoir into a `` cornstarch story about Asian-Americans resembling moo goo gai pan '' in order to make it more appealing to white audiences . But he later backed off the comments in a panel discussion on the issue , saying he did n't have a problem with the show 's executive producer and felt his memoir , published in 2013 , was portrayed `` fairly . '' There was also an awkward moment at the discussion when a journalist asked the show 's cast whether the sitcom would involve `` chopsticks . '' The ad also restarted online debate over another contentious part of the sitcom : its name . The phrase `` fresh off the boat , '' typically shortened to the acronym `` fob , '' is a loaded phrase many young American immigrants will recognize . Depending on who you ask , it 's either a slang term or a slur used to label minorities , often Asian American , who have n't fully assimilated with the mainstream . Huang deals with the term in his memoir -- also named `` Fresh Off The Boat '' -- recalling a moment he heard it being used to insult his father . `` He never forgot it , '' he writes . `` We were n't Americans like everyone else . We 'd always be the other in this bullshit country . '' Arissa Oh , a history professor at Boston College , says the term is painful because `` it aligns with Asian Americans always having to negotiate the fear of being perceived as a perpetual foreigner . Because the consequences can be anything from bullying and ostracism , to violence or internment . '' But Huang and Yang have argued that naming the show `` Fresh Off The Boat '' is an expression of immigrant pride , and can help to `` reclaim '' the term as something positive . `` It 's a term whose claws should and can be removed , '' Yang tells CNN . `` But only if we have an honest and open discussion about what it means to be American , and why a nation of immigrants remains so hostile toward those who are newly arrived . '' Concerns over the phrase are n't new . When the show was announced last May , some Asian Americans worried openly -- what if the show inadvertently encourages people to toss the phrase around in an offensive way ? What if , instead of deepening America 's understanding of the immigrants ' difficulties , the show simply gives people another opportunity to mock them ? Perhaps , some argue , these thorny issues only get harder to untangle when they 're thrust into the mainstream . As Oh explains , `` I sort of feel like 'fob ' is a family issue , you know -- like internal to Asian Americans ? We need to reclaim it or something first before we put it out there in front of other people . '' But the show is stepping into the spotlight next week . And even its strongest supporters are nervous . `` We 're all hoping that this works , '' says Yang . `` Because 20 years of wandering in the wilderness is damn well enough . ''
Upcoming ABC sitcom ' Fresh Off The Boat ' draws fire after tweet depicting racist stereotypes . A Twitter user who goes by @The_Real_Teddy posted a photo of the cast and crew from ABC's new comedy series 'Fresh off the Boat.'