Thanks to YouTube, you'll still be able to (we were this morning) see the offensive South Asian stereotype that Popchips encouraged Ashton Kutcher to do even though the company, after one asinine non-apology, finally realized how upset people were and pulled its commercial. "We received a lot feedback about the dating campaign parody we launched today and appreciate everyone who took the time to share their point of view," wrote Popchips founder and CEO Keith Belling on the company's blog yesterday. "Our team worked hard to create a light-hearted parody featuring a variety of characters that was meant to provide a few laughs. We did not intend to offend anyone. I take full responsibility and apologize to anyone we offended."  

That was a change in tone from Popchips' first, ham-fisted statement, where a spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter, "At Popchips we embrace all types of shapes, flavors and colors, and appreciate all snackers, no matter their race or ethnicity. We hope people can enjoy this in the spirit it was intended."  Obviously, people didn't enjoy Ashton Kutcher in dark foundation playing Raj, "a Bollywood producer looking for the most delicious thing on the planet" a tiresome Indian/South Asian accent and stereotype. Among the offended, were the band Das Racist (see what we did there):

So, a dude who pimps sex trafficking awareness @aplusk to revive a sagging acreer also plays brownface characters for @popchips #america

— DAS RACIST (@dasracist) May 2, 2012

And it seems like most of the Twitterverse has taken it out on Kutcher.  The Daily News and THR both report the ad has since been pulled, but the Raj character still appears on the company's Facebook page and his offensive mini introduction is still available on YouTube. The Daily News mentions that Kutcher's spokesperson hasn't responded.

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Alexander Abad-Santos