White House Communications Director Steven Cheung called podcast co-hosts Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza “racist” for joking that he acts like an AI creation and questioning if he’s a “real person.”
“Is he a real person?” Todd joked in a clip from his “Chris and Chuck Chat!” podcast on Tuesday. “If you told me Steven Cheung were a creation of AI — I just don’t believe he actually exists. I don’t think I’ve ever physically seen him.”
“He’s so over the top. No actual human being with 10 seconds of political training would behave this way,” he added.
It’s worth noting that neither host referenced Cheung’s Chinese ancestry or brought up race at all while mocking the comms director’s public behavior. Still, Cheung retweeted the video clip, saying that it displayed “some racist behavior” from the journalists and podcast hosts.
Some racist behavior here by @chucktodd and @ChrisCillizza. https://t.co/fylOMSE632
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) May 26, 2026
Cillizza soon enough saw the retweet and responded himself to the claim: “Uh, what?” he wrote back to the White House comms director.
Readers online did not all flock to Cheung’s side.
“No mention of race at all in any of this. Weird that you immediately went there with it,” one user wrote.
Other users came for Cheung’s physical appearance directly, saying that “being Asian has nothing to do with looking like a literal egg.”
Who is this racist against, people that look like thumbs?
— @Nostradonny (@Nostradonny) May 26, 2026
Dude, it’s not racism, it’s lookism.🤭 pic.twitter.com/N03WiWOrCD
— 🪴Laurie (@Laurieluvsmolly) May 26, 2026
— "All I do is" Nguyen (@Nguyen_anime3) May 26, 2026
Some users, though, defended Cheung, lambasting Todd and Cillizza’s “incredibly dehumanizing language” against the Asian American Trump official.
“It’s funny unless its happening to their side,” wrote another commenter.
I’m black. You’re a FKN racist And so is Chuck. You can’t stand that an American citizen with Asian heritage @StevenCheung47 isn’t a psychotic democrat like “your kind.” Assholes.
— Karen Kennedy (@realkarenjean) May 26, 2026
