Basketball officials are investigating a complaint by basketball star Jeremy Lin that he was called a “coronavirus” as an anti-Asian slander on the court.
Lin, who currently plays for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA’s G League, described the attack in a Facebook post on Thursday, in which he condemned ongoing racism against the Asian-American community.
“Being a 9-year-old NBA veteran does not protect me from being called a ‘coronavirus’ on the court,” he wrote.
Verbal and physical attacks on Asian Americans have increased since Donald Trump started using the scapegoat in China for COVID-19, calling it repeatedly the “China virus” and using the racist term “kung flu”.
Last year, Lin criticized Trump’s “anti-Chinese message” for strengthening “more hatred of Asians”.
Lin did not provide details in the post about where the cursing took place. He has been playing in the Orlando, Florida bubble for his team, ESPN noted.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he would like to see the NBA investigate Lin’s complaint.
Kerr called the Facebook post “really powerful. I applaud Jeremy for his words and agree with his feelings about racism against the Asian American community, ”he added.
“It is so ridiculous and obviously generated by many people, including our former president, when it comes to coronavirus originating in China. It’s just shocking, ”said Kerr.
Lin broke barriers by joining the Golden State Warriors in the 2010-11 season as the first NBA player born in the United States with Chinese or Taiwanese ancestry, according to ESPN.
There have been more than 1,800 racist incidents against Asian Americans reported in the United States in a single eight-week period, from March 2020 to May 2020, according to a United Nations investigation last August.
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