Ken Jeong has some powerful words about the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States.
In the wake of the Atlanta spa shootings Last week, which killed eight people, six of them Asian women, the typically funny Jeong got serious in “Late Night With Seth Meyers”On Monday and spoke openly about how the racist rhetoric perpetuated and popularized by former President Donald Trump affected Asian Americans.
“This is due precisely to terms like ‘Chinese virus’ and ‘kung flu’ weaponry,” Jeong told Meyers.
“And also the fact that, in this particular crime, there is a debate as to whether this crime is racially motivated,” he said, referring to the shootings in the Atlanta area. “Asian-American women are twice as likely to be beaten in America. This was clearly racially motivated. This was clearly a hate crime. ”
“As a guy who was a doctor and whose wife still practices medicine, I have an idea of how to solve COVID. It’s a mask, vaccination, common sense, don’t be an asshole. But, as a human, I don’t know how to solve racism. You have to listen, learn, love, be tolerant. But it really begins, in our particular case of Asian Americans, that ‘kung flu’ shit has to stop. And we really need to express it out loud. And we are. ”
Jeong is certainly not alone in his outrage. Some Asian-American celebrities have warned of the damage that Trump’s racist agenda has caused since the start of the pandemic.
“The pandemic is reminding us that our belonging is conditional,” wrote actor John Cho in an opinion article in Los Angeles Times in April 2020. “One moment we are Americans, the next we are all foreigners, who ‘brought’ the virus here.”
Many celebrities, like Lucy Liu, Jeremy Lin and Awkwafina, shared their experiences with racism and their frustration with hatred against their community. You can read some of his statements below.
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