Yuffie couldn't help but furrow her adorable brow at the comment.
But when she saw that the comment had over 20,000 likes, she grew even more anxious.
The video, "A Letter from the Future," currently had 1.09 million views. Considering a lot of people watch clips multiple times and a significant number don't engage with comments, having over twenty thousand likes meant the ratio was alarmingly high.
Yuffie refreshed the page and saw the like count had jumped by over a hundred in just a few seconds.
"Does the reaction really have to be this extreme? It's just a short film where the protagonist is the school's quarterback."
Even as she said it, she realized the root of the problem.
Yuffie had spent five years in a high school in New York, so she knew that the most popular guy on campus was always the football quarterback—he was the quintessential all-American Prince Charming.
And the most popular girl was usually the cheerleading captain.
With Yuffie's looks, she could probably land a captain role if she tried out for cheerleading, as American social circles are quite accepting of beautiful Asian women. After all, beauty is a resource accepted everywhere.
However, an ethnic Asian guy like Luke would never be the quarterback.
That most high-profile position in the entire school is mostly held exclusively by white guys; even African players struggle to get that kind of spotlight, let alone a Asian American.
If you try to search for "Asian quarterback" even in 2024, you'll find only a handful of results on the internet.
An Asian guy? Just focus on your studies, pal. Your math is great, so we'll count on you for the engineering jobs later!
So, when Luke, an Asian face, was cast as the quarterback, it immediately made some people intensely uncomfortable and uneasy.
If this wasn't happening in football, which is America's biggest sport, the level of attention wouldn't be this high.
It's like if a high school movie in Asian featured a foreign student who crushed all his peers to become the national teenage champion in table tennis or diving. People would find it weird, but they'd just grumble a bit.
But football is the number one sport in North America—the Super Bowl is basically America's biggest annual TV event.
To see a Asian quarterback in this beloved national sport was like pouring a whole handful of salt onto a lot of people's fragile nerves and then wrapping the wound tightly in gauze.
Yuffie clicked into the comment section below the top post:
"That guy Luke is being malicious. He's trying to subtly brainwash us and manufacture a Prince Charming image for himself, completely ignoring reality and disrespecting the sport we love!"
This was a guy who was over-the-top, yet he still had over five thousand likes.
"What the hell can a Asian guy do besides bury their heads in books? The glory on the field and the best-looking girls in school will always belong to us. And look, I'm not trying to start something, I'm just telling you the facts."
"I think Luke is insulting our national sport. As a celebrity, he's setting a bad example. He should apologize to the public for this!"
"Agreed, I demand Luke apologize too! Otherwise, more and more performers will try to copy this, doing whatever it takes to get attention!"
"Luke is in great physical condition! He even beat Mike Tyson. Why can't he play a quarterback?" Yuffie tried to post a comment defending Luke.
But within moments, her notifications showed dozens of replies.
"That only proves his Strength is good. Does that mean he can play football? Plus, being able to play football and being able to be a Quarterback are two entirely different concepts!"
"Football is a team sport. No matter how good Luke's Strength is, it's not going to make a decisive difference in a team game like this. Also, please stop trying to change the subject; we're discussing how absurd it is for an Asian person to be cast as a quarterback."
Those two replies were relatively civil. The malice and low-quality insults in the rest of the replies were practically spilling out of the screen.
"How much are you getting paid to suck up to Luke like this? Hook me up, I need some extra cash."
"FCK! FCK! FCK!"
Seeing these comments, Yuffie got even angrier.
But she knew this whole thing was getting out of control.
This storm of negative public opinion against Luke had taken shape and was starting to spread from the internet to traditional media.
At the same time, the Fox News reporter who previously interviewed Mike Tyson was now interviewing football star Tom Brady.
Not long ago, on February 3, 2002, in Super Bowl XXXVI, Tom Brady led his team, the New England Patriots, as the quarterback to defeat the St. Louis Rams and win the championship.
Tom Brady himself was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP).
He was a star on the rise.
In the future, he would lead his team to win the Super Bowl seven times, personally earning five Super Bowl MVP titles. His career would span over twenty years, dominating an entire era as the most legendary quarterback in history.
Tom Brady's achievements in football are arguably even greater than Michael Jordan's in basketball.
He was 24 years old, six-foot-four, 225 pounds, with long blonde hair and a handsome face—the quintessential quarterback look.
"Mr. Brady, first, congratulations on your recent Super Bowl MVP award," the Fox reporter said.
"Thank you. My career is just getting started; I still have countless peaks to climb," Tom Brady replied.
Hearing the answer, the Fox reporter nodded, thinking to himself: He's definitely more polite than Tyson. This humble attitude is miles better than those arrogant athletes.
"Lately, there's been a very popular video online that has sparked a lot of debate about an Asian quarterback. Are you familiar with it?" the Fox reporter asked.
Tom Brady paused for a moment but still smiled and said, "Yes, I'm aware of the situation. Luke is a very talented action actor."
"Then, as a newly crowned Super Bowl MVP, what's your take on this? Have you ever actually seen an Asian quarterback?"
The question was loaded—a typical trick by this reporter.
No matter how Tom Brady answered, he was going to tick off a whole group of people.
But riding the wave of his recent victory, feeling great and confident, he wasn't overly concerned about what people thought of him.
Tom Brady just wanted to answer honestly.
So he said, "I honestly haven't seen an Asian quarterback, but a little exaggeration in creative license is perfectly reasonable. This whole public outcry will probably blow over if he just comes out and clarifies things."