The comments by CNBC’s Robert Frank drew a critical response from the

The comments by CNBC’s Robert Frank drew a critical response from the Asian American Journalists Association, which condemned the statements as “offensive” and “inappropriate.”

Discussing whether Deng’s new lawyer might be able to gain her a share of the Murdoch family trusts during the divorce case, Frank stated on CNBC’s Power Lunch: “I wonder, you know, Peter, what do you think the chink in the armor here might be? That’s what [Deng’s lawyer] is so good at, is finding a chink in the pre-nups and all these trusts. What do you think they may be looking for to get more out of this divorce?”

Deng is a Chinese-born American citizen. She and Rubert Murdoch married in 1999 and have two children together. In June, Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce.

Contacted by Media Matters, Bobby Caina Calvan, media watch chair for the Asian American Journalists Association, said after reviewing the video that Frank used “an unfortunate phrasing and people should know better in this day and age that a phrase like that, that I’m not going to repeat, is offensive to many of us.”

Acknowledging that the statement may have been “spoken innocently” and could have been part of an “off-the-cuff question,” Calvan nonetheless added that “we would like CNBC and Mr. Frank to realize that the words uttered on air today about an Asian-American in the news were inappropriate in any context.” He further stated that the “phrase shouldn’t have been used, it is a no-brainer.”

Reached for comment, a CNBC spokesman said any offensive connotation was “totally unintentional,” declining to offer any additional explanation.

Calvan said AAJA has reached out to CNBC and was willing to help the network identify “words that many of us feel are offensive.”

In February 2012, ESPN fired an employee who used the phrase in a headline about Asian-American NBA player Jeremy Lin. That usage drew criticism from AAJA and others.

At that time, AAJA issued a statement that said, in part:

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