Quotes from Eugene Lee Yang

The coming out video was not just for the masses, but also for many people in my family.

Digital content is it's own industry that is going through it's own growing pains as with any other industry.

Even before BuzzFeed, Asian-American faces and voices were so prevalent online as huge YouTubers.

For some people of color, for some people with conservative or religious backgrounds, you know, we're constantly sort of looking over our shoulder.

My job is literally clapping back every day online as a comedian.

The strength of the platform that I am privileged to have is that I reach a massive group of diverse people.

I know many YouTubers who are these amazing LGBTQ icons for young people, but many of them have not come out publicly, even though they're well-known online.

Growing up in Texas, I was already dealing with the fact that I didn't even know I was Asian until a certain age. I just was informed about it in a somewhat negative way by my peers. And that immediately put me into that mindset where I felt very othered. My safety always felt like it wasn't something that I could consider a given.

As a small kid from Texas, I just imagined that Hollywood was this world that was really foreign and far away and I didn't see many Asians on screen, so I had no idea that I could even be a part of it.

There's a reason we all cried when Gina Rodriguez won that Golden Globe. It didn't matter if we're Latina. We get it. We're just like, 'Thank you! Finally, a more accurate reflection of diversity!'

I think that there's a lot of different factors that played into the coming out process I've had with the public. You know, it's always gradual and very individual for each queer person.

I always assumed that my otherness was a curse - that I would be held back by my Asian and queer identities.

I would walk down the street and people would scream from their cars at me and, generally, I'd turn around and it's a 13-year-old girl. And it's funny because that is the audience that I think big studios are always trying to target.

Content isn't just a brand or message that you develop yourself and then throw out into the echo chamber. It's a mirror.

One of the first things that I found audiences related to me on outside of my identity was just my general cynical depressive worldview, which, surprisingly a lot of people share!

I'm most concerned with committing to characters that contribute to more complex, modern and dynamic Asian-American representation on screen.

We have the right to be angry about our representation in the media. It's just not a reflection of how we live our daily lives.

I think as you become a more open person and let others in, just in your regular life, you'll be surprised by how much you find and how you can then incorporate that into the work you put online.

I was a very insecure, self-conscious kid, and as an artist even more so.

I am a proud, gay person of color and I will not be intimidated into mediocrity or legislated into conformity!

Some people just yell 'Asian BuzzFeed guy!' and I turn around and distinctly yell back 'Eugene!'

Even if it's just the smallest thing, like what label I go by, I think to find the truth and express it with full confidence.

YouTube opened up the types of voices and alternative ways of viewing ourselves that would never have been greenlit by a Hollywood studio.

I haven't really spoken openly about my experiences with depression, especially, not ever having the chance to be in any way clinically diagnosed but I think that I certainly have a naturally depressive personality.