What a weird misfire of an article.
Racial bias combined with a race for clicks is a hell of a drug.
That article ignores nearly a dozen SPJ guidelines. It is a textbook example of what not to do. I would expect something like that out of a high school blogger who just tried to author their first "investigative" piece. Not a professional journalist at an international outlet.
Shame about the unnecessary hate that appeared on Twitter and elsewhere because of this article.
Getting criticized for the article should never be labeled as "unnecessary hate." Calling out racism is always a good thing, and never unnecessary.
East Asian voices speaking ESL have been mocked for years, and the original article just continued that tradition. It was a clickbait hit piece, designed to impugn the singer with a false accusation. The vocalist's only "crime" was singing in accented English.
It's well known that suggestion plays a part in how people hear things (see the various viral "challenges" that have made the rounds), which means that anyone listening after reading the original piece is also going to be biased.
Honestly, the only surprising thing is that this got called out at all, because this type of racism is usually overlooked. It shouldn't be overlooked though. People should rightfully get called out for this, in the same way the Twitch streamer got called out for blackface. The more this can be "unnormalized", the better.
