90 Day Fiance: Kalani Faagata Accuses TLC of Race Baiting and Whitewashing Over Asuelu Airport Incident
90 Day Fiance star Kalani Faagata is pushing back hard against TLC and production company Sharp Entertainment over an incident with Asuelu Pulaa. This is the second time that Kalani felt the need to clap back at the network for its editing. This time, she called them out for race-baiting and whitewashing and talks about why she wanted to quit the TLC show. She and Asuelu Pulaa, her Samoan fiance, are one of the featured couples this season on 90 Day Fiance.
90 Day Fiance – Kalani Faagata Calls Out Shady Editing
After the first episode of this season of 90 Day Fiance aired, Kalani Faagata spoke out against editing that made her dad Low Faagata look racist against Samoans. She posted: “That is not what was said” and that things are often “spliced together” as a “rule of thumb when watching reality TV”.
Kalani Faagata also said she didn’t care if she got “in trouble” from the network about raising her voice. She wrote: “it was bullshit to be put together in such a way, considering the current racial disparities in the world”. Kalani also clarified that her father’s concerns for her being involved with a native Samoan man are because it’s a male-dominated country and not a culture similar to how she was raised in the US.
She added that her dad “can love his country and his people” without wanting those “cultural norms for his daughters”.
Kalani Faagata’s Sister Slaps TLC Too
TLC has more than just Kalani Faagata as a vocal critic of their editing. Her little sister Kolini Faagata, also featured on the first episode, offered photo evidence to disprove TLC. Editing made Low Faagata look like he was against Kalani being involved with a Samoan man. Edited scenes implied he wasn’t good enough for his daughter. There were also hints that Low is anti-Samoan.
Kolini Faagata posted a pic on Instagram of the four Faagata kids when they were little participating in an event dressed in ethnic Samoan garb. She captioned it with “Their dad hates his culture and whitewashed his kids to hate their culture too” mocking how the family was made to look on 90 Day Fiance. Sharp Entertainment is known for hinky editing and allegedly cast an actress to pretend she was a rival love interest on last season’s Before the 90 Days.
90 Day Fiance Airport Scene Ticks Off Kalani
On the Sunday, October 28 episode of 90 Day Fiance, there’s a scene when Asuelu Pulaa, Kalani’s fiance, arrives at the airport in California. He performs a Samoan slap dance for her at the airport. Kalani looked embarrassed and angry thanks to edits. Kalani explained on Facebook that once again, she was being unfairly portrayed.
You can watch the video above where he greets his fiancee with a kiss and then strips off his shirt and starts some music on his phone. The clip shows her saying “I don’t know what’s f-ing happening” and that she’s in shock. Kalani looks visibly uncomfortable in the video. Asuelu Pulaa said he did the dance to surprise her and “make her feel proud of me”. A crowd gathered and people were snapping pics and taking video on their phone.
Kalani looks upset at Asuelu Pulaa for embarrassing her at the airport by performing a native dance. Kalani said in her social media post that it’s what production wanted – to make her look bad and that she didn’t appreciate Asuelu’s (and her own) Samoan culture, background, and rituals. Tonight’s epiode airs the scene edited to make it look as intense and dramatic as possible. Kalani Faagata has another story to tell.
Kalani Alleges TLC Race Baiting – Wants to Quit 90 Day Fiance
90 Day Fiance showed that conversation with her dad that was heavily edited to make him look anti-Samoan. Now the same thing was done to her. She said everything she does this season “will be turned into a race thing”. She said the network is doing it that way to bait people into watching. Kalani wanted to “quit the show” because of the inauthenticity and TLC (technically Sharp Productions) hitting her with surprises.
Kalani Faagata offered valuable context on this scene. She says that she talked to Asuelu the night before he arrived about how the show was presenting her and her family. She says that the production company (Sharp) set up Asuelu Pulaa to do the dance. It reportedly wasn’t his idea. She said he didn’t warn her ahead of time. So when Kalani showed up to the airport, she realized this was a set-up for the TLC cameras. She said she was angry at production springing this on her.
Did Sister Kalani take a wrong turn from Bravo & end up on TLC? Makeup = on point #90DayFiance pic.twitter.com/6z9fMlCiOd
— Erin Martin (@ErinLeahMartin) October 22, 2018
Kalani Angry, But With Cause
She said he never did the dance for her back in Samoa when she visited. But then he did it for the cameras at TLC’s request. Scenes were cut to seem she’s “not embracing her culture” was “whitewashed’ and her dad made to appear racist, according to Kalani. She finished the post with an eye roll emoji. 90 Day Fiance edits for high drama as viewers know. Promos are misleading as are snippets from the show, so this should be no surprise to 90 Day Fiance fans.
Tune into TLC tonight to see Asuelu Pulaa’s airport dance. Production aimed to make Kalani Faagata seem racist, according to the 90 Day Fiance star. What do you think? Does the heightened editing keep you interested? Or do you wish that TLC would present a more accurate representation of these events?
Check back with Soap Dirt often for the latest 90 Day Fiance spoilers and news.