The front of the Times arts section features a positive review of a book by sportswriter Dan Jenkins:
I woke up with a smile on my face every morning during the two or three days I spent reading "His Ownself." It's a casual and sly sportswriter's memoir, albeit with a few egregious missteps that I'll get to, one of those books that reminds you that good stories happen only to people who can tell them.
Lower down, the Times review reports:
His anti-P.C. campaign is where his geezer routine crosses over into something worse. On Twitter in 2010, writing about the Masters Golf Tournament, he made a racist joke that got him into trouble: "Y. E. Yang is only three shots off the lead. I think we got takeout from him last night."
Mr. Jenkins's memoir would have been a good place to apologize, so we could all move on, but he doesn't. Instead, he doubles down, printing several similarly derogatory and sophomoric Asian jokes. Now this writer is going to be partly remembered for this stuff, which is a shame.
One reason it's a shame is that, in the end, one of the best things about "His Ownself" is how generous its author is.
I wonder whether if these were anti-black jokes or sexist jokes or anti-gay jokes, the Times would have let Mr. Jenkins and his book off so easily, or whether the paper would have bothered to review the book at all. As it is, the gist of the review is essentially "Great book, run out and buy it! Oh, there are some derogatory Asian jokes but don't let them deter you..."