Chinese restaurants are striking back against tasteless remarks made by television talent show judge Gordon by offering a special deal on menu item 39, with or without rice.

Gordon hit the international headlines when he asked a Chinese contestant on Holland’s Got Talent if he was going to sing ‘number 39 with rice’. The contestant is a Phd student in Groningen.

This week 39 Chinese restaurants have banded together to offer a 39% discount on menu item 39, with the aim of drawing attention to discriminatory stereotyping.

‘We want to show that Chinese people like a good laugh as well, as long as both sides get the joke,’ organiser Yan Ting Yuen is quoted as saying by the Volkskrant.

The campaign was dreamt up by three Chinese youth groups and the Dutch Chinese restaurateurs’ association. Participating restaurants include The Hague’s Han Ting, which has a Michelin star.